Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections

Poll tax payment as a prerequisite to voting in State and local elections, exacted by the Constitution and statutes of Virginia, 1 is attacked in these two consolidated actions as violative of the no-abridgment and equal protection commands of the Federal Fourteenth Amendment. A corollary attack is made upon the provision of the State constitution excluding “paupers” as persons entitled to vote in any election. 2

The common premise of the assaults is: that the plaintiffs are financially unable to pay the tax-$1.50 for each of the 3 preceding years for which the elector was assessable; and that…