HOUSE ENACTS A POLL TAX.

HOUSE ENACTS A POLL TAX. Following up on my post from yesterday about the importance of election oversight at the state level comes news of an attack on voting rights at the national level. From Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation:

Republicans in Congress are on the job and doing everything they can to further disenfranchise voters.... The House recently passed a bill along party lines requiring voters to present a photo ID beginning in 2008. Starting in 2010, voters would need to pay for a government-issued proof of citizenship -- a virtual poll tax.... Demos, a national public policy organization, reports that the legislation would disproportionately impact people of color, individuals with disabilities, rural voters, people living on reservations, the homeless, and low-income people -- all of whom studies show are less likely to carry a photo ID and more often have to change photo ID information.

It's unclear if and when the Senate will act on this legislation. But, if it's possible that this won't be settled until the next Congress convenes, it shows that Secretary of State races are not the only ones essential to preserving American democracy this year.

--Ben Adler