Opponents of this measure say each State can set and define the qualification of its voters for its most numerous branch of its legislature under article I. section 2. of the Constitution. Polltax pay is not a qualification. In the Breedlove case (302 U. S. 277). Mr. Justice Butler said that it is merely a tax. Aliens must pay it. yet paying them is no qualification for voting. It is no qualification like an intelligence test. literacy test. residence requirement. age requirement. necessity of citizenship. Pay as condition precedent to voting is an enforcement provision to encourage paying of a tax. Generally poll taxes need not be paid by persons over 60 years of age. by the deaf. the dumb. the crippled.
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literacy test