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Banned federal government and states from denying a person's right to vote based on their race, color, or previous condition of servitude. In simple terms, the 15th Amendment granted African-American Men the right to vote.
USC -
Declared the grandfather clause in the 1910 Oklahoma Voter Registration Act unconstitutional.
Grandfather Clause was a clause that stated if a person's grandfather could vote in 1866, then they could vote regardless of literacy tests
Stated it violated the 15th Amendment, as the clause violated the rights of blacks.
Oklahoma Historical Society -
Banned the denial of voting rights based on sex. Granted all Women, who were citizens, the right to vote.
Was the end of a long women's suffrage movement that had lasted for over 80 years. Gov Archives -
Gave all Native Americans who were born in the US citizenship. However, until 1957, some states barred Natives from Voting. Natives had long pushed to become citizens, and this law gave them the rights (in theory,) that came with it. LOC -
Outlawed Poll Taxes
Made it so that states could not have poll taxes for elections.
Was a major step in removing barriers that the Southern States had created to prevent African Americans from voting. -
Supreme Court Ruled State Legislative Districts should have roughly equal populations. This ruled that the division of the way that states made their legislative districts, must be based on population, not land. This was because Alabama law stated that there only had to be as many senators as legislator districts, but each county would have one representative.
Ballotpedia -
This was done to enforce the 15th Amendment of the Constitution.
It banned discriminatory practices during voting which were used by Southern States after the Civil War.
This includes the outlawing of Literacy Tests.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 meant that all citizens of the United States had the right to vote.
Archives -
Lowered the Voting Age from 21 years to 18 years old
Was done mainly due to protests against the Vietnam War, and the fact that men could be sent off in combat without having a say in politics.
The idea of lowering the voting age began during WW2, as a result of the draft age being lowered from 21to 18. The 26th amendment made it so anybody drafted/in the military, also had a say in government. Nixon Library -
Provided funds to states to replace Hole Punching Cards/Lever Voting Machines. Established a new minimum voting standard for states, such as providing provisional ballots to voters if they did not offer registration on the day of the election, and made it so first-time voters had to provide ID. These issues were addressed as a result of the 2000 Presidential Election. NCSL -
Court ruled that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, was in place to identify the areas in which there was a significant amount of racial discrimination and to find solutions to these issues. However, the Section was challenged by Shelby County, Alabama, and the court ruled that it was unconstitutional as the remedies in place were no longer needed in the 21st century. Oyez