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At the time of the first presidential election in the United States in 1789, only white men over the age of 21 who were citizens and owned property were permitted to vote. This means that only about 6% of the population was eligible to vote at the time.
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The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, allowing citizenship to all men born or naturalized in the US. This gave voting rights to more men in the country.
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The ratification of the 15th Amendment prohibited the denial of citizens' right to vote on the basis of race. This gave Black American men the right to vote. However, Black Americans were still, and continue to be, disenfranchised through other means.
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The first "grandfather clause" was established in Louisiana in order to disenfranchise Black voters. This mandate required men whose grandfathers could not vote to go through other processes like literacy tests and poll taxes before they could receive the right to vote. This disproportionately impacted Black voters given that the 15th Amendment was not ratified until 1869. Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia also adopted similar laws soon after Louisiana
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While senators were initially elected via state legislatures, the 17th Amendment allowed for direct election of senators.
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The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.
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The Indian Citizenship Act granted Native Americans US citizenship and thus the right to vote. Before this legislation, Native Americans had to denounce their tribal affiliations in order to gain citizenship. However, given that voting procedures are largely determined by states, many continued to deny Native Americans the right to vote through other means for decades after the passing of this legislation.
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The 24th Amendment outlawed poll taxes.
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The Voting Rights Act prohibited voting practices that resulted in discrimination based on race, color or language. This included Jim Crow-era voting restrictions like poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests. It also required that states with histories of voter discrimination get federal approval before changing their voting laws.
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This US Supreme Court Case found that poll taxes are illegal under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
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The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 years old to 18 years old.
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This US Supreme Court case struck down a Tennessee law that required citizens live in the state for one year and a county for three months before they are permitted to vote.
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This law allowed service members, their family members, and citizens living abroad to vote absentee in federal elections.
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The National Voter Registration Act requires that the Department of Motor Vehicles offer all citizens voter registration and allows citizens to mail in voter registration forms rather than completing them in person.
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This US Supreme Court case removed the requirement that certain state and local governments with histories of voting discrimination get federal approval before changing election laws. After this decision, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and many other states swiftly passed discriminatory voting laws.
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Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, states across the country amended their election procedures to promote early, absentee, and mail-in voting options. This caused backlash and intense scrutiny, particularly from the President and members of the Republican party, as they claimed these methods of voting were illegitimate. President Trump's team subsequently filed, and lost, dozens of lawsuits challenging election results.
