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The Fifteenth Amendment
Granted African Americans the right to vote and prevented the states from depriving one's voting rights because of their race or color.
This amendment marked the first time that the U.S. Constitution dictated rules to the states about who they must allow to vote. -
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Grandfather Clause
Only voters whose grandfathers had voted before 1867 can vote without paying tax or passing a literacy test.
This allowed potential white voters to circumvent literacy tests, poll taxes, and other tactics designed to disenfranchise southern blacks.
Declared unconstitutional in 1915 (Guinn v. United States). -
Nineteenth Amendment
Women suffrage was allowed nationwide. -
Poll Tax
Prohibited any poll tax in elections for federal officials. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Harper v. Virginia Board of Election
Prohibited the use of the poll tax in state elections. -
Voting Rights Act of 1970
Extended the Voting Rights Act for five years. -
Twenty-sixth Amendment
Lowered voting age to 18. -
Voting Rights Act of 1975
Extended Voting Rights Act for seven more years.
Also expanded voting rights for minority groups such as Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Alaskans, and Native Americans. -
Voting Rights Act of 1982
A 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act was signed by President Ronald Reagan. -
Voting Rights Act of 2006
Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years.
But gerrymandering by some states caused discriminated voters to have a disproportionally small amount of political power. -
Shelby Co. v. Holder
The Supreme Court ruled that the formula Congress used to decide which states had to follow the special regulations in the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional because the formula was based on discrimination in place over 40 years ago.
