Simone Lawson
Voting rights in the United States have been a contentious issue since the country's founding. The US Constitution, which came into effect in 1789, did not originally define who was eligible to vote, leaving it up to individual states to determine voter qualifications. This resulted in a narrow subset of society, primarily white male landowners, being granted the right to vote, while women, people of colour, and those without property were largely excluded. Over time, various constitutional amendments, such as the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments, have been enacted to expand voting rights and prohibit discrimination based on race, sex, and age. Despite these advancements, voting rights continue to be a subject of debate, with ongoing efforts to address voter suppression and ensure equal access to the polls for all eligible citizens.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Voting rights | Originally, the US Constitution left it to states to determine who is qualified to vote in elections. |
| Voting rights for people of colour | The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, passed during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, declared that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race. |
| Voting rights for women | The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920 granted women the right to vote. |
| Voting rights for Native Americans | Native Americans faced centuries of struggle before acquiring full US citizenship and legal protection of their voting rights as citizens of both tribal nations and the United States. |
| Voting rights for youth | Citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 had to fight for the right to vote in the United States. |
| Electoral College | The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. |
| Reforming the Electoral College | Over the past 200 years, more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. |
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What You'll Learn
Voting rights for women
When the United States Constitution came into effect in 1789, it did not originally define who was eligible to vote, leaving it to the states to determine who qualified as a voter. In the early history of the U.S., some states only allowed white male adult property owners to vote, while others did not specify race or protected the rights of men of any race to vote. Women were largely prohibited from voting, except in some jurisdictions in northern states, such as New Jersey, where they could vote until 1807 if they met the property requirement.
The fight for women's suffrage began in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention, the first large gathering dedicated to women's rights in the U.S. Attendees drafted and signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which called for civil, social, political, and religious rights for women. Many of the signers of the Declaration, including Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, went on to become leaders of the women's suffrage movement. Formal groups were established in the decades that followed, and supporters of women's suffrage used a variety of strategies, including organizing formal suffrage groups, rallying at conventions and meetings, and peaceably assembling and petitioning the government. Alice Paul, the founder of the National Women's Party, organized pickets outside of the White House and was arrested for obstructing traffic. The media's coverage of a hunger strike by Paul brought increased attention to and sympathy for the cause.
After decades of organizing and activism, women nationwide won the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The amendment states that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." When New York adopted women's suffrage in 1917 and President Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began to shift. The amendment was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify it.
However, ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement for women, and the struggle to include African American and other minority women in the promise of voting rights continued for decades. Many women remained unable to vote long into the 20th century due to various barriers, such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and English-language requirements, which were used to suppress the vote among people of color, new citizens, and low-income populations.
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Voting rights for African Americans
After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed, granting citizenship and voting rights to African Americans. The 15th Amendment, adopted in 1870, specifically broke down the racial divide in voting by declaring that people could not be denied the right to vote based on their race. Despite these constitutional protections, many Southern states continued to set restrictions and deny the right to vote to Black Americans. Literacy tests, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and other practices were used to disenfranchise Black voters.
During the Reconstruction era, African Americans faced violent resistance from white supremacist groups, and their voting rights were suppressed. This suppression continued into the post-Reconstruction era, with Southern states enacting new laws and constitutional amendments to exclude African Americans from the political process. Mississippi, for example, adopted the "Mississippi plan" in 1890, which included provisions such as a poll tax, literacy test, and residency requirements to deny Blacks the right to vote.
It wasn't until the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 that African Americans gained a clear path to exercising their voting rights. The VRA banned racial discrimination in the voting process and had a significant impact on increasing Black voter participation. However, voter discrimination still occurs, and there is ongoing legislation, such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, aimed at protecting voting rights and stopping discriminatory voting policies.
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Voting rights for Native Americans
Native Americans have faced numerous barriers to exercising their voting rights, including structural and cultural obstacles. For example, Native Americans living on rural reservations often rely on ballot collection services due to limited access to polling places and mail services. However, some states have passed laws making it illegal to pay organizers to collect completed absentee ballots, further restricting Native American voting access. Additionally, strict voter ID requirements and the closure of polling places have made it more difficult for Native Americans to cast their votes.
To address these issues, organizations like the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) have worked since 1970 to ensure equal and fair access to voting for Native citizens. NARF has encountered voting rights abuses in states with significant Native American populations, such as Alaska, South Dakota, and Montana. In 2017-2018, the Native American Voting Rights Coalition held public hearings to understand better how Native Americans are systematically hindered from fully participating in the electoral process. The final report, "Obstacles at Every Turn: Barriers to Political Participation Faced by Native American Voters," detailed the challenges Native Americans face at every stage of the electoral process, from registering to vote to having their votes counted.
Despite these ongoing challenges, there have been some successes in expanding Native American voting rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided a framework to enforce voters' rights and required states with a history of discriminatory voting policies to obtain federal approval for changes to their voting rules. Additionally, in 1957, Utah became the last state to remove its laws explicitly denying Native Americans the right to vote. While progress has been made, Native Americans continue to push back against structural barriers and fight for equal access to the vote.
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Voting rights for non-Christian men
Voting rights in the United States have been a contentious issue since the country's founding. The original U.S. Constitution, which came into effect in 1789, did not explicitly define who was eligible to vote, leaving this decision to the individual states. While some states allowed only white male adult property owners to vote, others did not specify race or even protected the rights of men of any race to vote. However, women were largely prohibited from voting, as were men without property.
In the early 19th century, some states began to relax property requirements for voting, and by 1856, white men could vote in all states regardless of property ownership. However, this expansion of voting rights did not extend to all men, as several states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, stripped free black males of the right to vote during this period. It was not until the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 that voting rights were officially expanded to all citizens regardless of race.
Even after the Fifteenth Amendment, some states continued to use barriers such as poll taxes and literacy tests to suppress the vote of African American and Native American men, immigrants, and other targeted groups. It was not until the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that these discriminatory practices were addressed on a national level.
The struggle for voting rights for non-Christian men is closely tied to the broader fight for racial equality in the United States. While the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race, it was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that measures were put in place to ensure that states could no longer pass laws or policies that discriminated against voters based on race or other immutable characteristics. This included protections for language minorities, which were added in 1975, and accommodations for voters with disabilities, added in 1982.
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Voting rights for citizens aged 18-21
Voting rights in the United States have long been a contentious issue, with the country's democratic experiment in the late 1700s granting voting rights to a narrow subset of society—white male landowners. Over time, voting rights expanded, but the original U.S. Constitution did not define universal voting rights, leaving it to individual states to determine eligibility. This resulted in a varied landscape where some states allowed only white male adult property owners to vote, while others had no racial restrictions or even protected the rights of men of any race.
The struggle for voting rights for citizens aged 18 to 21 is a significant chapter in the expansion of voting rights in the United States. Before the 26th Amendment, the minimum voting age across most states was 21. The push to lower the voting age gained momentum during the Vietnam War, as young men, conscripted to fight and risk their lives at 18, were denied a say in the government's decisions until they turned 21. The slogan "old enough to fight, old enough to vote" became a rallying cry for a youth voting rights movement.
In 1943, Georgia became the first state to lower the voting age to 18, but this was limited to white youth due to the implementation of Jim Crow laws. The movement to lower the voting age gained support from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, in his 1954 State of the Union address, called on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment allowing citizens to vote at 18. Widespread public support for this change followed in the 1960s, driven by the Vietnam War and the inequity it highlighted.
Despite resistance and concerns about the maturity of young voters, the momentum for change led to Congress voting to add an amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, lowering the voting age to 18 in federal, state, and local elections nationwide. The 26th Amendment, ratified on July 1, 1971, extended the right to vote to all Americans aged 18 and older, ensuring that no citizen would be denied the right to vote based on age. This amendment passed faster than any other constitutional amendment, demonstrating the power of the youth voting rights movement and its impact on shaping the country's democratic processes.
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Frequently asked questions
When the Constitution was first ratified, only white male landowners were allowed to vote. Some states also required voters to be Christian.
After the Civil War, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment, which stated that voting rights could not be denied based on race. However, Southern states enacted new restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests to suppress the Black vote.
Women gained the right to vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. This was the result of decades of activism and protest by women's suffrage supporters.
The Electoral College is a process established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution for electing the President. It is a compromise between election by Congress and a popular vote of citizens. There have been over 700 proposals in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College, and a majority of lawyers polled supported its abolition in 1987.
