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Not legally or literally. A tax is a direct levy of property. Showing an ID is not.
Not literally, but legally. Every single court that has taken a case like this has ruled that if the ID costs money, it's a poll tax. It doesn't matter that other things require ID to be shown. Buying beer is not the core fundamental right to democracy. Voting is, and our constitution says poll taxes are out of the question.
The ID requires money, and voting requires the ID, therefore voting requires money, which is exactly the thing that the constitution is trying to prevent. My compromise would be this: issue the ID's free of charge, at the voting precincts. That way nobody can be inconvenienced by being forced to make two trips. (which can be a real barrier if you are very poor) And it solves the poll tax issue. But this would cost money, and Republicans only support spending money in the name of election security when it's done in a way that will benefit their party.
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