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When the Constitution went into effect, the right to vote was generally restricted to white male property owners.
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Religious qualifications, put in place in colonial days, quickly disappeared. No State had a religious test for voting since 1810.
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States began to eliminate property ownership and tax payment qualifications. By mid-century, almost all white adult males could vote in every state.
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The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, was intended to protect any citizen from being denied the right to vote because of their race or color. However, still a century later, African Americans were systematically barred from voting.
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By 1920, more than half of the States had followed that lead, but women were still denied the vote in federal elections. The struggle of women to change that situation finally culminated with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920
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The 23rd Amendment, passed in 1961, added the voters of the District of Columbia to the presidential electorate.
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The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated the poll tax (and any other tax) as a condition for voting in any federal election. A poll tax was a tax imposed by several States as a qualification for voting.
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With passage and vigorous enforcement of a number of civil rights acts, especially the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its later extensions, racial equality finally become fact in polling booths throughout the country.
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The 26th Amendment provides that no state can set the minimum age for voting at more than 18 years of age.
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More than 240 million people, nearly all citizens who are at least 18 years of age, qualify to vote.
