Eleanor Finch
Voting rights in the United States have evolved significantly since the late 1700s, when only a narrow subset of society—typically white male landowners—could vote. Over time, constitutional amendments have expanded voting rights to include a broader range of citizens. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted voting rights regardless of race, while the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, extended voting rights to women. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes, and the 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18. These amendments represent significant milestones in the expansion of voting rights in the United States, breaking down barriers and ensuring a more inclusive and democratic electoral process.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of Amendment | 3rd February 1870 |
| Amendment Number | 15th Amendment |
| Groups Gaining Right to Vote | All male citizens regardless of race or prior slave status |
| Date of Amendment | 18th August 1920 |
| Amendment Number | 19th Amendment |
| Groups Gaining Right to Vote | Women |
| Date of Amendment | 1964 |
| Amendment Number | 24th Amendment |
| Groups Gaining Right to Vote | African Americans in Southern states |
| Date of Amendment | 1971 |
| Amendment Number | 26th Amendment |
| Groups Gaining Right to Vote | People aged 18 and above |
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African American men
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870, granted African American men the right to vote. This amendment was proposed during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, and it declared that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.
The Fifteenth Amendment was a significant step forward for African American men, who had previously faced significant barriers to voting. During the early years of the United States, voting was restricted to a narrow subset of society, primarily white male landowners. Even as voting requirements were relaxed in some states, others erected new barriers, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, which were specifically designed to disenfranchise African American men and other minority groups.
Despite the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, many African American men continued to face obstacles to voting. Some states continued to use literacy tests and other restrictive measures to suppress the African American vote. It was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that further steps were taken to address this issue. The Act provided federal oversight of elections in discriminatory jurisdictions, banned literacy tests and other discriminatory practices, and created legal remedies for those affected by voting discrimination.
The Fifteenth Amendment was also notable for being the first time that African Americans were able to fully participate in American public and civic life. Many African American men, including newly freed slaves, eagerly exercised their newfound right to vote, and during the Reconstruction Era, 16 black men served in Congress, while 2,000 black men served in elected local, state, and federal positions.
The Fifteenth Amendment was a significant milestone in the struggle for racial equality in the United States, and it laid the groundwork for further expansions of voting rights in the subsequent decades.
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Native Americans
However, even after the passage of this Act, Native Americans continued to face significant obstacles to exercising their right to vote. The U.S. Constitution left voting requirements for local, state, and national elections to the discretion of individual states, resulting in a complex web of rules and regulations that often limited Native American participation. Additionally, states employed various tactics to disenfranchise Native voters, including literacy tests, intimidation, poll taxes, and residency requirements.
In 1945, Elizabeth Peratrovich, a Tlingit woman from Alaska, successfully fought for the passage of the Alaska Equal Rights Act, becoming the first anti-discrimination law in the nation and securing the right to vote for Alaska Natives. Despite this milestone, Native voters across the country continued to encounter barriers, including geographic isolation, non-traditional mailing addresses, limited transportation, and a lack of polling and registration sites on tribal lands.
To address these ongoing challenges, legislators from both sides of the aisle have introduced the Frank Harrison, Elizabeth Peratrovich, and Miguel Trujillo Native American Voting Rights Act in every Congress since 2019. This Act seeks to protect the voting rights of Alaska Natives and American Indians by ensuring fair access to voter registration, dropboxes, and polling locations on tribal lands. Additionally, it proposes the acceptance of tribal ID cards for voter identification and requires prior notice and consent before reducing or removing voting locations on tribal lands.
As the country approaches the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, there is a renewed emphasis on ensuring that Native Americans can fully participate in elections without obstruction. Native American voting rights advocates and organisations like the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) continue to work tirelessly to remove barriers to registration and voting, increase civic engagement, and foster a more informed and active Native electorate.
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Women
In the early years of the United States, voting was not a nationally recognised right. The framers of the Constitution predominantly envisioned that the states would have the authority to craft their own election laws. Most states restricted voting rights to white male individuals who owned property above a certain value.
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, expanded the right to vote to all male citizens of the United States, regardless of their race, colour, or previous condition of servitude. However, women remained largely separate from the franchise, and the national debate surrounding votes for women declined amid the Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction Amendments.
The 19th Amendment, ratified on 18 August 1920, extended the right to vote to women. The official text is as follows: "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. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
The women's suffrage movement had gained momentum during World War I, as many women volunteered as relief workers, nurses, and ambulance drivers for the US military and the Red Cross. Members of the National Woman's Party argued that if women were willing and able to serve the country in times of war, then they should have the right to vote. At the same time, other members of the National Woman's Party conducted protests and demonstrations on the sidewalks of the White House, calling for President Wilson to support the "Anthony Amendment", a proposed amendment to extend the right to vote to women.
Despite the celebrations surrounding the expansion of voting rights to women, it is important to note that the majority of African-American women were still disenfranchised, particularly in the southern states. They faced obstacles such as poll taxes, fraudulent voting practices, literacy tests, and outright violence when attempting to register to vote. It wasn't until the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that nationwide protections were put in place to end discrimination and expand voting rights to all citizens, regardless of race or gender.
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Those not paying poll tax
Poll taxes were used in the United States until they were outlawed following the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They were a fixed sum of money levied on every liable individual, typically every adult, without reference to income or resources.
Poll taxes were used as a tool to disenfranchise African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and poor whites. In the Southern states, the tax emerged in the late nineteenth century as part of the Jim Crow laws. After the right to vote was extended to all races by the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment, several states enacted poll tax laws as a device for restricting voting rights. The laws often included a grandfather clause, which allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax.
In places that instituted a cumulative poll tax, missed poll taxes from previous years also had to be paid to receive restricted privileges. The Texas poll tax, for example, was between $1.50 and $1.75, which was a lot of money at the time and a significant barrier to the working classes and the poor. In Georgia, men of any race between 21 and 60 years of age had to pay a sum of money for every year from the time they turned 21 or from the time the law was enacted.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment, ratified in 1964, outlawed the use of poll taxes (or any other tax) as a precondition for voting in federal elections. However, it did not mention poll taxes in state elections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped to outlaw the practice nationwide and made it enforceable by law. The Supreme Court also ruled in 1966 that under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states could not levy a poll tax as a prerequisite for voting in state and local elections.
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18-year-olds
The right of 18-year-olds to vote was established by the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971. The text of the amendment is as follows: "The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."
The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 gained momentum across the United States during the 1960s, driven in part by the military draft held during the Vietnam War. Young men between the ages of 18 and 21 were conscripted into the military to serve in Vietnam, meaning they could be ordered to fight and risk their lives for their nation without having a say in the government's decision to wage war. This discrepancy led to the emergence of a youth rights movement, with the slogan "old enough to fight, old enough to vote."
The increasing opposition to the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s further fuelled debates about lowering the voting age. In addition, the growing number of young Americans graduating from high school, attending college, and engaging in political and social activism heightened national awareness of the process of crafting laws and constitutional amendments. The rise of student activism and the increasing involvement of young people in the civil rights movement and other social and political causes of the time also contributed to the push for voting rights for 18-year-olds.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment faced some legal challenges, with questions arising regarding the representation of out-of-town college students at the polls and the applicability of the amendment to other political institutions, such as jury service. However, the amendment addressed a significant domestic controversy that had emerged amid the Cold War, resolving the question of whether citizens old enough to fight for their country were also old enough to vote.
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Frequently asked questions
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of their race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted the right to vote to women, ensuring that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.
The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, prohibited the use of poll taxes as a precondition to voting, which had been used to disenfranchise African Americans.
The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age for all elections to 18, prohibiting the use of age as a reason to deny the right to vote to anyone 18 years of age or older.
The Snyder Act, enacted in 1924, granted Native Americans citizenship and the right to vote.
