Jesse Jackson Calls South Carolina Voter ID Law Modern 'Poll Tax'

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson held a news conference in his home town of Greenville, S.C., on Monday to discuss issues facing voters in his home state, targeting specifically South Carolina's recently passed voter ID law that would require registered voters to show identification when voting. Jackson, along with members of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, spoke out against the new law, which was signed by Gov. Nikki Haley in May, saying it amounted to a "poll tax."

Jackson, according to The State , noted the law was designed to discourage voting and would make it more difficult for senior citizens and students to vote. He argued that the voter ID law could be crucial in close elections.

Jackson could be correct. County and statewide elections notwithstanding, Sen. John McCain defeated Sen. Barack Obama in the 2008 general election in South Carolina by 9 percent of the vote (over 168,000 actual individual votes). At present, The State reports South Carolina has 178,000 registered voters (according to the S.C. Election Commission) who would not qualify to vote under the new voter ID law because they do not have or are unable to obtain a valid state driver's license, a passport, or a military ID.

Needless to say, since many of those registered voters were allowed to vote, their votes were counted in the 2008 election, but, for argument's sake, if they had not been and they all happened to be Democratic voters (a questionable extension at best) intent on voting for Sen. Obama, he could have, if all voted, won South Carolina's popular vote and their electoral votes as well.

South Carolina, however, has not voted Democratic but once since 1960 (1976).

Still, in a close race, as Jackson pointed out, missing or denied votes could be critical to a politician's chances.

South Carolina's voter ID law will go into effect immediately upon approval of the Justice Department, which oversees the southern state's election laws due to its past discriminatory behavior with regard to elections. The Justice Department has 60 days to respond to the new law. However, approval of said law could take longer.

Opponents of the law liken it to a "poll tax," which is a method by which communities charge voters per capita to vote. Poll taxes are seen as discriminatory in that they could potentially eliminate anyone in a democratic system from voting who did not have the required tax amount. Opponents note that young people without driver's licenses and older people who do not drive or may not have legal birth certificates in order to get a valid ID would be unfairly discriminated against.

Proponents of the law state, mostly conservatives, say it would cut down on voter fraud. The law also waives the $5 DMV fee for a valid ID for individuals older than 17.

According to South Carolina Election Commission records, only one case of voter fraud has been brought to its attention in the past 10 years, and that case, leveled in 2010, was still under investigation. Democrats blame Republicans for attempting to disenfranchise actual and potential voters, especially the young, the elderly, and the poor (many of which tend to vote Democratic), using voter fraud as a smoke screen.

Jesse Jackson also noted during the news conference that he hoped presidential candidates coming to South Carolina would spend time talking about issues that would impact the poor, like joblessness, the rise in the number of doctors not taking Medicaid patients, the problems being experienced by family farmers.