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HomeRight to Vote Timeline

Right to Vote: Cycles of Expansion and Contraction


COLONIAL PERIOD


Right to Vote Limited to Propertied Adult White Men

Individual colonies defined their own franchise and generally restricted voting to free White men who owned a certain amount of wealth -- usually based on landed property.
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How did Colonials View Voting Rights
How did Colonials View Voting Rights

18th century thinking proposed that men who owned property had a stake in society and were committed to the community; property owners had sufficient independence needed to have a voice in governance; those without economic means were of questionable competence and unworthy of the vote.

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Religion and Voting
Religion and Voting

Many colonies imposed other restrictions on voting, including religious tests. Catholics were barred from voting in five colonies and Jews in four.

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Voting Rights Varied
Voting Rights Varied

The right to vote varied widely. In frontier areas, seventy to eighty percent of white men could vote. But in some cities, the percentage was forty to fifty percent.


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1776)


Does Not Express an Affirmative Right to Vote

The Declaration does not address the issue of voting, but does assert that government derives from the 'consent' of the governed. This leads to the question: how consent should be realized?
[excerpt] Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

CONSTITUTION RATIFIED (1788)


No Explicit, Affirmative Right to Vote in U.S. Constitution

When the U.S. Constitution was ratified, it made few references to voting rights. Voting rights were contentious for the drafters of the Constitution - raising issues of class and of race.

The Constitution addressed voting in several instances:
  1. Article 1. Section 2. [Direct Popular Vote for House of Representatives]
    The only reference to an individual's voting rights in the Constitution was the establishment of direct popular elections for members of the House of Representatives.
    It states any person eligible to vote for the largest house of a state’s legislature was eligible to vote for members of the Federal House of Representatives.
    The result was that each individual state determined who is qualified to vote at this federal level by deciding who can vote at a corresponding state level.  
  2. Article 1. Section 3. [Indirect Election of U.S. Senate].
    Originally the Constitution established an indirect method to elect U.S. Senators:
    "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
    "
    Later the 17th Amendment provided for Senators to be elected by popular votes rather than selected by state legislatures.
  3. Article 1. Section 4. [Elections Clause] set up a dual authority on how congressional elections are run.
    The individual states prescribe,  but with ultimate federal oversight. How state and federal regulation of Senate and House elections interplay has been a issue of significant legislation and many court cases throughout American history.
    "Although the Elections Clause makes states primarily responsible for regulating congressional elections, it vests ultimate power in Congress" - the "Common Interpretation" at Elections Clause, National Constitution Center.
    [excerpt] U.S. Constitution. Article 1. Section 4“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…”

  4. Article II. Section 1. [Electoral College]
    Established what is known as the Electoral College. The framers did not envision direct popular voting for the president or vice president. Aspects of the Electoral College were later altered by the 12th Amendment (1804).
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Article I. Section 2. Direct Elections
Article I. Section 2. Direct Elections

[excerpt] U.S. Constitution. Article 1. Section 2

"The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature."


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Article II. Section 4. Elections Clause
Article II. Section 4. Elections Clause

[excerpt] U.S. Constitution. Article I. Section 4.

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…”


EXPANSION OF FRANCHISE FOR WHITE MEN: 1789-1860s


First Major Expansion of Voting Rights - Adult White Men Broadly Enfranchised

The first 50-60 years of the 19th century was a period where states expanded the right to vote to most White adult men, regardless of property or income. By 1790, all states had eliminated religious requirements for voting.
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No Taxation without Representation
No Taxation without Representation

The American Revolution was fought in part over the issue of representation and voting, rejecting the idea that American representation in Parliament could be through English members of Parliament. For Patriots government derived its legitimacy from the consent of the governed. No taxation without representation! To many patriots, restrictions on voting was a violation of fundamental rights.

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Non-Whites and Women Lose
Non-Whites and Women Lose

During the same period of expansion of white male suffrage, women and many free Black men lost voting rights they might have held. In 1855, only five states - Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont - allowed African Americans to vote without major restrictions. In New Jersey, the only state that had allowed women to vote, and only those with property, all women lost the right to vote in 180

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Why Expand Suffrage for White Men?
Why Expand Suffrage for White Men?

Why did the states gradually move towards universal suffrage for free white men, regardless of property or income? It was a response to multiple factors: property-less men demanding rights; territories granting voting rights to attract settlers; political parties wanting to broaden their base.


NATURALIZATION ACT OF 1790


First Federal Law Defining Path to Citizenship for Free White Immigrants

The 1790 Naturalization Act would expand voting rights for immigrants by regularizing naturalization and a path to citizenship. Under the Act, “Free white persons” who have resided in the United States for at least two years may be granted citizenship, with some other stipulations. Children (under 21) of naturalized citizens will also become U.S. citizens. Citizenship was typically a prerequisite for voting.

Non-White Immigrants Excluded from Citizenship

The Act excluded all non-White and/or unfree immigrants: enslaved peoples, indentured servants, all peoples of color. People from Asia (China, Japan, and other areas of the traditional Far East) were not considered "White". Racial exclusions, "aliens ineligible for citizenship", would remain in some form into the  early 1950's.


SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT 1848-1920


Free White Women Seek the Vote

In 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York, the first American women’s rights convention adopted a resolution calling for women’s suffrage. Seventy-two years later, with the adoption of the 19th Amendment, most White American women would be able to vote in state and Federal elections. The Seneca Falls convention did not represent women who were poor, Black, or from other non-White groups. Women campaign for the vote for the next 72 years.
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1875 Minor v. Happerset
1875 Minor v. Happerset

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly exclude women from congress, from the presidency, from juries, or from voting. But in Minor v. Happersett (1875) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that women could only receive the vote as a result of explicit legislation or constitutional amendment, and not through interpretation of the Constitution and its Amendments. In a unanimous opinion, the Court stated it was "too late" to claim the right of suffrage by implication and suffrage was a matter for the states, not the federal government, to decide. To the Supreme Court, voting was not an inherent right of citizenship, and the right of women to vote was not protected under the 14th Amendment.

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1869 Wyoming Grants the Vote
1869 Wyoming Grants the Vote

Slowly, state by state, women succeeded in getting the vote. In 1869, Wyoming Territory, eager to increase its population, enfranchised women. Next was Utah, which feared the increasing non-Mormon voters. Idaho and Colorado also extended the vote to women in the mid-1890s. Other states, counties, and cities allowed women to vote in local and municipal elections.

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1890 NAWSA
1890 NAWSA

By 1890, women were organizing for the vote under the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Initially NAWSA did not position themselves in favor of equal rights. Rather NAWSA argued that enfranchised women would uplift politics and be a moral counter to the immigrant vote. Opponents argued that suffrage would increase family strife, erode the definitions of masculine and feminine, and endanger women by exposing them to the corrosive political arena.

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Early 20th Century - World War I
Early 20th Century - World War I

In the early twentieth century, the suffrage movement became more militant. Growing numbers of working-class women, eager to improve their working conditions, became interested in suffrage.

World War I increased support for the 19th Amendment. By their wartime activities, suffragists gained public approval. Many suffragists sold war bonds and engaged in volunteer activities that supported the troops. Women’s suffrage was in harmony with the view of the Great War as a War for Democracy.


TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO (1848)


War Expands Citizenship for Some Mexican Americans

The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between the U.S. and Mexico. Mexico ceded over 55% of its territory to America. The treaty granted U.S. citizenship to literate, bilingual Mexican male property owners in the Southwest. This opened up the possibility of gaining voting rights. But through voter intimidation methods and language requirements, these rights were often denied by the states.

CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS VOTE


War Expands the Franchise for Absentee Voters (Soldiers)

During the Civil War,  most of the states in the Union made arrangements with the U.S. government to arrange for Union soldiers stationed away from home to vote in the 1864 Presidential election.

This is the first time that actively deployed American combatants exercised a kind of 'absentee' or 'mail-in' ballot. There is a trend in American history where wars (Revolutionary War, Mexican American War, Civil War, Vietnam War) can expand voting rights for some.

Pennsylvania soldiers voting, Army of the James
Pennsylvania soldiers voting, Army of the James - William Waud. Published in Harper's Weekly, October 29, 1864. Courtesy Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661229/

13th AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1865)


Slavery Ends Without Assurance of Citizenship or Voting Rights

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States but did not grant full rights of citizenship and the right to vote to the formerly enslaved. The 13th Amendment is the first of the three Reconstruction amendments (13th, 14th, 15th).  Enslaved Black people, 85 percent of the nation’s Black population between 1790 and 1860,  could not vote anywhere in the United States.

 [excerpt] 13th Amendment"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
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How to Amend the Constitution
How to Amend the Constitution

Per Article V. of the U.S. Constitution, there are two paths to proposing an amendment to the Constitution.

(1) An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or,

(2) if two-thirds of the states' legislatures can request a national convention that can meet to propose an amendment. To date, although there have been petitions from states for constitutional conventions, the threshold requirements have never been met and no conventions called.


Ratification of the Proposed Amendment

The resulting proposed amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, or three-fourths of ratification conventions called in each state. Congress may set a time limit for state action. The official count is kept by the Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives.


CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866


First Federal Civil Rights Bill and Template For 14th Amendment

Grants civil rights and citizenship, but not the express right to vote, to all native-born Americans, regardless of color or previous enslavement. Excluded from this grant are those Indigenous peoples who do not pay taxes.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed by overriding a presidential veto.  Members of Congress who supported the Act feared that the constitutionality of the Act would be challenged later, that Congress would not be able to enact laws to support the goals of the Act, and that a future Congress would repeal the main protections of the Act. All these concerns led to the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868.
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Excerpt from Civil Rights Act of 1866
Excerpt from Civil Rights Act of 1866

"Be it enacted . . . , That all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding."


14th AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1868)


Citizenship for Native Born and the Naturalized - Voting Rights Not Ensured

Grants citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the U.S. but does not expressly grant voting rights or full political participation in government. The 14th amendment is the second of the three "Reconstruction" amendments (13th, 14th, 15th).

The 14th Amendment addresses many aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. The most commonly used and often litigated language of the Amendment is "equal protection of the laws." This right figures prominently in landmark cases: Brown v. Board of Education (racial discrimination), Roe v. Wade (reproductive rights), Bush v. Gore (election recounts), Reed v. Reed (gender discrimination), and University of California v. Bakke (racial quotas in education)


15th AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1870)


Voting Rights Cannot be Denied on a Racial Basis

The 15th Amendment states, "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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The 15th amendment is the third of the three "Reconstruction" amendments (13th, 14th, 15th). 

As the 15th Amendment was being ratified by the states, Congress had already passed laws to enfranchise Blacks living in the District of Columbia, federal territories, and the  "Reconstruction South." However, many Black citizens were still not able to vote in the Northern, Western, and Border states. The 15th Amendment, surely, would address this inequality and prevent readmitted Southern states from denying the vote to Black Americans.
15the Amendment celebrated

The Fifteenth Amendment Celebrated  May 19th, 1870 (collection: National Museum of American History)

[excerpt] 15th AmendmentSection 1
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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

ENFORCEMENT ACTS 1870/1871


Enforcing the 14th and 15th Amendments

Because Southern states were unable or afraid to protect Black civil rights and counter the terrorist activities of White supremacist groups, Congress passed a series of three Enforcement Acts between 1870 and 1871. These acts made it a Federal crime to keep people from voting, holding office, and enjoying the full protection of the law.

First Enforcement Act. The Civil Rights Act of 1870 (also known as the First Enforcement Act,  the First Force Act)  was directed at suppressing the actions of the Ku Klux Klan and other similar terrorist groups.

Second Enforcement Act. In February 1871, Congress passed the Second Enforcement Act (also known as the Second Force Act), which provided for federal oversight of national elections when individual states are deemed unwilling to hold fair and open elections on their own.

Third Enforcement Act. A Third Force Act passed in April 1871 and empowered the president to call up armed forces to protect those denied equal protection of the laws and to suspend habeas corpus if necessary.  Parts of the Act are now embodied in Section 1983 and Section 1985 of the U.S. Code and are the bases of many federal civil lawsuits.

These early Enforcement Acts are some of the first federal statutory protections against voting discrimination.  Some of the protections originating in these Acts were later amended and expanded by the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964.
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The Act Included Criminal Penalities
The Act Included Criminal Penalities

The Civil Rights Act of 1870, also known as the Enforcement Act or the First Ku Klux Klan Act, set criminal penalties for those attempting through violence or the threat of violence to prevent African Americans from voting. As a result of the Act, the criminal jurisdiction of the federal courts expanded.


PROMISES ABANDONED


It is the late 1870s. Are Black Voting Rights Protected Now and in the Future?

 

[excerpt] Interpretation: The Fifteenth Amendment | Constitution Center"Yet the most significant fact about the Fifteenth Amendment in American history is that it was essentially ignored and circumvented for nearly a century. This history illustrates that constitutional rights can be little more than words on paper unless institutions exist with the power to make sure those rights are actually enforced.

For the first twenty to thirty years after the Amendment was adopted, black adult men (women were generally not permitted to vote at this time) were indeed permitted to vote—and did so in large numbers. Nearly 2,000 African-Americans were elected to public offices during this period. But starting in 1890, Southern states adopted an array of laws that made it extremely difficult for African-Americans (and many poor whites) to vote. This was the start of what is known as the era of disenfranchisement, and it lasted all the way up until 1965..."
Interpretation: The Fifteenth Amendment | National Constitution Center

JIM CROW ERA: 1877-1960s


Black Americans in the Southern States Are Disenfranchised

During Reconstruction, with the passage the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and the support of the Northern states and Congress, Black men were able to vote, some were elected to Congress, local office, and to state legislatures. 

To solve the contested 1876 presidential election, Rutherford B. Hayes gained the presidency with the political promise that the Federal government would remove all troops from the former Confederacy. Historians often term the withdrawal of the troops in 1877 as the final end of Reconstruction.

The South then instituted a rollback of Black rights while tragically, from the 1880s until the 1960s, the federal government and courts showed little interest in enforcing the Reconstruction Amendments and the voting rights of southern Blacks. The voting rights of many northern Blacks were also effectively nullified during this period.

As a result of the states' post-Reconstruction reactionary policies, in the former Confederacy nearly all Black citizens were removed from voter rolls by 1910.  By 1940 only 3% of eligible African Americans in the South were registered to vote.

How was this accomplished? There was terror, particular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Alabama Election Riots of 1874 were deadly attacks by Alabama Whites (in Barbour County, Eufaula, Spring Hill) that marked the end of Reconstruction in the South and the beginning of "Redemption" --  where the White South regained political power and vowed to 'redeem' their race and territory. The Red Summer of 1919 saw racist violence all over America. Huge White rallies were held in 1920 across Florida to intimidate the Black vote. The 1920 Election Day Ocoee Massacre in Florida was the largest election day terror event in American history.  White Floridians used racial terrorism to both intimidate voters and to ward off labor organizing in the orange groves and turpentine farms.


Long term, the states, particularly the old Confederate states, weaponized non-violent ways to maintain white supremacy and gut the Reconstruction Amendments through

  • poll taxes
  • literacy tests
  • complex and restrictive registration and residency requirements.
  • bizarre voting processes. For example, South Caroline created the Eight Box Law [1882] to suppress votes of illiterate citizens by requiring separate ballot boxes and separate ballots for each office up for election. If you could not decipher the label on each box, you were effectively disenfranchised.

Black Americans, suffering from inferior education and history of enslavement,  and other people  of color were denied the vote.

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1868 Opelousas Massacre (Louisiana)
1868 Opelousas Massacre (Louisiana)

1868 (Sept-Oct). Opelousas Massacre. White men of Opelousas, Louisiana killed over 250 people. Most of whom are Black Americans. A year earlier, Louisiana had ratified a state constitution giving Black men the vote. The massacre was a white terrorist reaction to suppress the Black vote and its allies.


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1873 Colfax Massacre (Louisiana)
1873 Colfax Massacre (Louisiana)

"On Easter Sunday in 1873, the White League, a paramilitary organization, shot approximately 100 black state militia members in a clash over a contested gubernatorial election in Louisiana. Three White League members died in the battle known as the Colfax Massacre. Approximately 100 members were charged with felony conspiracy to deny an individual’s constitutional rights. Nine of them were tried, but all were set free without penalty.


The Supreme Court’s decision related to the Colfax Massacre [United States v. Cruikshank, 1876] effectively ended Reconstruction. The ruling held that the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment applied only to the actions of states—not individuals. It wasn’t until the civil rights movement of the 1960s that the Federal Government resumed efforts to protect African Americans in the South." -- The Colfax Massacre 1873, National Archives


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1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention
1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention

1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention. Mississippi rewrites its constitution specifically to nullify the intent of the 15th Amendment. Adopted November 1, 1890, the Constitution utilizes poll taxes and literacy tests to effectively disenfranchise the vast majority of Black voters. Mississippi became the "model" for the other Southern states in campaigns to institutionalize voter suppression.

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1898 Wilmington Massacre (North Carolina)
1898 Wilmington Massacre (North Carolina)

1898 (November) Wilmington Massacre. A white mob killed at least 60 people and overthrew the legally elected biracial government of Wilmington, North Carolina.


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1920 Election Day Massacre Ocoee (Florida)
1920 Election Day Massacre Ocoee (Florida)

The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history. Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a Black U.S. citizen, attempted to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the Black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.” -- Orange County Regional History Center, -- Orange County Regional History Center


RESTRICTED VOTING RIGHTS IN THE NORTH AND WEST: 1870s-1960s


Voting Rights Limited Outside of the South

Post Civil War, and despite the Reconstruction Amendments, reactionary laws in the North and West restricted the franchise through literacy tests, onerous voter registration requirements, and other means. Restrictions were based on a fear of the political impact of the vote of African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans,  foreign born immigrants, and a militant working class.

In the West, U.S. states routinely undermined democratic participation for communities of color. Oregon became a state with a constitution that explicitly disenfranchised Black and Chinese people. After the Civil War, Oregon denied suffrage to most people of color until the mid-20th century.
excerpt from The Right to Vote by Alexander Keyssar[By the beginning of World War I] "In the North and West, exclusions" [from electoral politics] "were on a smaller scale" [than in the South], "but still numerous: depending on the state or city in which he lived, a man could be kept from the polls because he was an alien, a pauper, a lumberman, an anarchist, did not pay taxes on his property, could not read or write, had recently moved from one neighborhood to another, did not possess his naturalization papers, was unable to register on the third or fourth Tuesday before an election, could not prove that he had cancelled a prior registration, been convicted of a felony, or been born in China or on an Indian reservation."

VOTING RIGHTS OF NATIVE AMERICANS: 1880s-1960s


The Fight for Native American Voting Rights

The 18th and 19th century interpretations of the U.S. Constitution excluded Native Americans from citizenship. Even after the ratification of the 14th Amendment, Native Americans were excluded from full citizenship. In the 19th and early 20th century, Congress passed a series of laws restricting citizenship for Native Americans. State legislation, Federal  court decisions, and state court decisions also restricted access to voting rights into the 1960’s.

Only the Voting Rights Act of 1965 created an effective means to start to enforce voting rights for Native Americans.
Pres. Coolidge and Native Americans at White House (collection: Library of Congress) Although Pres. Coolidge signed the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act, many Native Americans couldn’t vote until decades later. Here the President poses with Native Americans on south lawn of the White House (1925)
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1884 [Citizenship Case] Elk v. Wilkins
1884 [Citizenship Case] Elk v. Wilkins

1884 U.S. Supreme Court: Elk v. Wilkins: denies birthright citizenship to Native Americans born on tribal lands. Native American John Elk was denied the right to vote after he left his reservation in Nebraska and began living among white people. The Supreme Court found that Native Americans born on reservations or associated with tribal membership were not citizens by birth under the 14th Amendment and could be denied the right to vote.

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1887 Dawes Act
1887 Dawes Act

1887: Dawes Act passed. The Act tried to break up reservations and tribal lands into private plots and force Native Americans to assimilate into White society. Tribal land would become non-Native land. Native Americans who accepted individual land grants under various statues and provisions would be American citizens.


Ironically, Native Americans could obtain citizenship not by birth, but only by alternate means: military service, marriage to a white citizen, or accepting land allotments under the Dawes Act. However these suffrage routes were not widely used.

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1890 Indian Naturalization Act
1890 Indian Naturalization Act

1890 Indian Naturalization Act: allowed tribal members in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to apply for citizenship by the naturalization process. But voting rights did not necessarily come with naturalization.

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1924 Snyder Act/Indian Citizenship Act
1924 Snyder Act/Indian Citizenship Act

1924 Indian Citizenship Act: The Act (also known as Snyder Act) finally grants full citizenship to Native Americans. Probably passed in recognition of Native American military service in World War I. However, states still continued to deny voting rights by requiring certain qualifications to register to vote. Native Americans living on tribal lands often do not pay property taxes, a loophole that states used to suppress the vote. Arizona courts denied the vote for decades to Native Americans on the basis that Native Americans were "persons under guardianship."

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1947 Federal Court case: Trujillo v. Garley
1947 Federal Court case: Trujillo v. Garley

1947 Federal Court case: Trujillo v. Garley: Miguel Trujillo (an Isleta Pueblo World War II veteran) is denied his right to vote because he did not pay New Mexico's state property tax. Trujillo sues and wins. The New Mexico state constitution of 1912 excluded Native Americans who resided on tribal lands from voting on the grounds that they didn’t pay property taxes on tribal trust lands. In Trujillo v. Garley, the U.S. District Court of New Mexico ruled that states must grant Native Americans the right to vote regardless of whether they resided on tribal lands or not.



VOTING RIGHTS OF ASIAN AMERICANS: 1880s-1950s


The Fight for Asian American Voting Rights

Congress passed a series of laws restricting naturalization and citizenship rights for people of Asian descent. The legislation and corresponding Supreme Court decisions prevented broad access to voting rights until the early 1950’s. More subtle forms of voter suppression continued even after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee: Suffragette and Activist

Mabel Ping Hua Lee 1937

 

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service/National Archives 1937.
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee (1897-1966) emigrated  with her family from China to the United States as a child and later joined the suffrage movement as a teenager. As a youth and activist she led in a 1912 New York City suffrage parade attended by almost 10,000 people. But for a Chinese immigrant, citizenship and voting were not possible until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943.
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1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act (22 Stat. 58). Congress passes the first Chinese Exclusion Act to regulate immigration along racial lines. The law suspends the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years and allows those Chinese who were in the United States as of November 17, 1880 to remain. Chinese may not become citizens. The 1882 law paves the way for a series of laws between 1882-1904 that severely restrict Chinese immigration flows and provide for the deportation of many Chinese nationals already residing in the United States. These pieces of legislation are reinforced by corresponding Supreme Court decisions that restrict access to voting rights.

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1892 Geary Act
1892 Geary Act

1892 Geary Act (Act to Prohibit the Coming of Chinese Persons into the United States). The law extends the prohibitions of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act for ten years and requires all Chinese nationals residing in the United States to obtain certificates to document their lawful presence. The Act later was expanded to cover Hawaii and the Philippines.

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1921 Takao Ozawa v. United States
1921 Takao Ozawa v. United States

1921 U.S. Supreme Court case: Takao Ozawa v. United States. Denies U.S. citizenship to persons of Japanese descent.

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1943 Magnuson Act
1943 Magnuson Act

1943 Magnuson Act. Repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act. Chinese immigrants and their American born children are eligible to be naturalized. It is the first legislation since 1870 which reduced racial and national barriers to immigration. "The repeal of this act was a decision almost wholly grounded in the exigencies of World War II, as Japanese propaganda made repeated reference to Chinese exclusion from the United States in order to weaken the ties between the United States and its ally, the Republic of China." -- see Dept. of State. Office of the Historian.

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1952 McCarran-Walter Act
1952 McCarran-Walter Act

1952 Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act). Grants the right of U.S. citizenship to Japanese Americans born in the United States.


VOTING RIGHTS OF SOUTHWEST HISPANIC/LATINO AMERICANS: 1848-1970s


Voter Suppression in the Southwest

In the Southwest, Mexicans seeking to naturalize and Mexican-Americans would face many obstacles to full participation in the political process.

One attempt to exclude Mexicans from citizenship and full voting rights was the 1896 Federal district court case In re Ricardo Rodriguez. Ricardo Rodríguez, a Mexican immigrant, filed his intention to become a citizen with the Bexar County clerk in San Antonio, Texas. Anglo attorneys then countered that Rodriguez was ineligible for naturalization on racial grounds.

Until Reconstruction, U.S. naturalization statues held that only an "alien being a free white person" could become a citizen. During Reconstruction, the relevant statues had been amended to allow Africans and those of African descent to naturalize, but no other non-whites. Court cases had determined that Asian and most non-European immigrants, as well as  Native Americans, were nonwhite. If Rodriguez was "non-white", he could not naturalize.

Judge Maxey of the federal district court ruled that Mexicans were eligible for citizenship and could naturalize as if they were whites. However, this ruling did not change the racialized status of Mexican Americans in Texas and  the Southwest.


By 1900, Southwest laws and practices had effectively disenfranchised many Hispanics, although never as completely as African Americans. Techniques used included all white primaries, prohibiting interpreters at the polls,  literacy tests, poll taxes,  racial  gerrymandering.


The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its extensions would finally remove many voting barriers facing Hispanics, especially those residing in America's West and Southwest.

re Ricardo
Historical marker photographed By Brian Anderson, February 16, 2019


VOTING RIGHTS IN THE TERRITORIES


No or Limited Voting Rights for Residents of U.S. Territories

A collection of early 20th century Supreme Court decisions, known as the Insular Cases, ensured that people living in American territories would not automatically be granted all  the rights of U.S. citizens. Insular refers to the fact that the law cases are 'island' related. Otherwise, the insular cases were primarily about tariffs and jury trials.

Today, American citizens residing in the five U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, can not elect senators or fully empowered representatives to Congress. The American electoral college system  does not allow for electoral votes in territories. National political parties can choose to allow voters in the territories to select delegates in primary elections. 

Political rights and citizenship status vary. For example:

  • Guam; and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: The residents are U.S. citizens, but cannot vote in primaries. Each territory can elect one nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives who can cast votes in committees and on amendments to a bill but not a bill's final passage.
  • American Samoa: Residents are U.S. nationals (not citizens). Samoans cannot vote in presidential elections, but can participate in primaries. Samoans elect one nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives who can cast votes in committees and on amendments to a bill but not vote for/against a bill's final passage.
  • Puerto Rico: Has a complex relationship and past as a territory. It possesses attributes of a U.S. state, including a federal Article III court and, with the passage of the Jones Act in 1917, its residents are U.S. citizens. But, Puerto Ricans lack a full vote in Congress. They can vote in the presidential primaries but not in the general election.

19th AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1920)


The Vote For Women

The 19th Amendment enfranchises women. However, particularly in the South, this was mostly a win for White women. The same methods used after the passage of 15th Amendment to disenfranchise Black men, are employed to keep Black Southern women from voting.

Woman and the Vote Before 1920

America was not the the earliest country to grant suffrage to women. 

The first countries to grant suffrage before 1920 included: New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902; but denies the vote to aboriginal women until 1962), Grand Duchy of Finland (1906), Norway (1913),  Denmark & Iceland (1915), The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (1917), Belarusian People's Republic (1917), Ukraine (1917), Russian Republic (1917; later absorbed into Soviet Union); Uruguay (1917; first nation in the Americas to grant universal suffrage), Austria (1918), Germany (1918), Poland (1918), United Kingdom (1918), The Netherlands (1919), Sweden (1919),  the U.S. (1920).
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Equal Suffrage League of Virginia 1909
Equal Suffrage League of Virginia 1909

There was no right to vote for Women in Virginia at the beginning of the 20th century. The Virginia suffrage movement geared up with the founding of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909. The Equal Suffrage League campaigned for the women's vote by educating citizens and lobbying legislators.

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VA Legislature Votes Down Suffrage
VA Legislature Votes Down Suffrage

Between 1912 and 1916, the Virginia legislature voted and failed to pass three women's suffrage bills.

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Racism and the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia
Racism and the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia

The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia published a 1916 pamphlet making an argument for enfranchisement of white women. It stated that "the enfranchisement of Virginia women would increase white supremacy." Shamefully, suffragists argued that poll taxes and other voter suppression tactics like literacy tests would prevent Black American women from voting.


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Suffrage Arrives in Virginia with 19th Amendment
Suffrage Arrives in Virginia with 19th Amendment

In 1919, before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, women had gained some suffrage rights on a state by state basis: either full suffrage, presidential suffrage, or partial suffrage. Women had no voting rights in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Virginia did not ratify the 19th Amendment until February 21, 1952.

Suffrage map

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957


First Important Federal Civil Rights Act Since Reconstruction

This Act established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department, gave the U. S. Department of Justice the right to initiate lawsuits on behalf of Americans denied the right to vote, and set up the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (a 2-year Commission).

It was an important step leading to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as many civil rights laws enacted in following years that are enforced by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1960


Another Attempt to Enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1960 was weak in many respects, some of its provisions would enable the Federal government to collect more concrete evidence of voter discrimination and helped pave the path to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the momentous Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The 1960 Act required election officials to keep all records related to voter registration and permitted the Department of Justice to inspect the records. It also broadened the legal definition of  "to vote" to include registering, casting a ballot, and properly counting that ballot. The Act mandated that Americans denied the vote could apply to federal court. It created federal voting referees to examine denials. But this approach involved a cumbersome appeal procedure that required individuals to navigate a complicated path and furnish their own proof that race was the deciding factor in the denial.

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More Attention to Voter Rights
More Attention to Voter Rights

The 1957 Civil Rights Act had been watered down by white southern senators and the 1960 Act attempted to address voting rights. Voter disenfranchisement of African Americans and of Mexican-Americans had continued despite the 1957 Act.

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Major Discriminations Remain Unaddressed
Major Discriminations Remain Unaddressed

The 1960 Act did not contain concrete mechanisms to enforce school desegregation, integrate public accommodations, or end housing discrimination.


23rd AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1961)


Expands Voting Rights in the District of Columbia

The 23rd amendment allows citizens living in Washington D.C. to choose electors in presidential elections. D.C. residents vote in the 1964 presidential election.


DC Votes in 1964

1964 Presidential Election Ballot (collection: National Museum of American History)


24th AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1964)


Ends Poll Taxes for Federal Elections

The 24th Amendment prohibited Congress and the states from implementing a poll tax or other type of tax for federal elections.

The Amendment reads:
"The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax."

Poll Taxes for State and Local Elections Allowed Until 1966

The 24th Amendment only applied to federal elections. Some states continued to impose poll taxes for state and local elections until the Supreme Court Case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966).  In a 6-3 decision the Court held that these poll taxes violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.


Poll tax sign
Poll tax notice from Amarillo, Texas, 1960s (collection: National Museum of American History)


CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964


Attacks Discrimination and Expands Voting Protections

The 1964 Act declares that a person may not be discriminated against based on gender, religion, race, and nationality. It is America's benchmark civil rights legislation.

In the realm of voting rights it
 "... contained provisions relating to voting rights. It required that uniform standards, practices, and procedures be applied in determining qualifications to vote in any federal election; forbid denying the right to vote because of immaterial errors or omissions on registration forms; and mandated that if literacy tests were used, they must be administered to every applicant in writing and a certified copy be provided to the applicant. The act also created a presumption, in any proceeding brought by the Attorney General, that anyone with at least a sixth-grade education possessed sufficient literacy to vote. To expedite voting cases, the act provided that the Attorney General could request a hearing before a three-judge court, with appeal directly to the Supreme Court."-- U.S. Commission on Civil Rights - Read More.

And yet, this was still not enough to bring voting rights justice. Black Americans battle for the right to vote continued. In March, 1965 civil rights activists, protestors, and supporters were brutally attacked in Selma, Alabama at the  Edmund Pettus Bridge.


Life magazine 1965-03-19 civil rights march
Life Magazine, March 19, 1965 (collection: National Museum of American History)

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Selma to Montgomery: Bloody Sunday
Selma to Montgomery: Bloody Sunday

On Sunday March 7, 1965 some 600 protestors, civil rights activists, and supporters left the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma and walked towards the Edmund Pettus Bridge, on their way out of Selma towards the capital, Montgomery. The goal was to pressure the then state governor George Wallace to act to protect the right to vote in Alabama.

When they came to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the march was brutally assaulted. Alabama state troopers, law enforcement officers, and some local citizens attacked, sometimes from horseback, with billy clubs, tear gas, whips, fire hoses, and beat men and women, and scattered children. Dozens of marchers were severely injured. The televised attacks were seen all over the United States, galvanizing public support for civil rights and for the voting rights campaign. After this 'Bloody Sunday', two more marches for voting rights followed. The Bloody Sunday march leaders were John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

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Selma to Montgomery: Turnaround Tuesday
Selma to Montgomery: Turnaround Tuesday

On Tuesday, March 9, two days after Bloody Sunday, Dr. Martin Luther King led a second march of 1,500 to 2,000 men and women to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, with the goal of walking the 54 miles to Montgomery. At the bridge, they were met by troopers and other law enforcement officers. The officers approached King and asked him to disperse. Dr. King and other clergy knelt in prayer. The march turned around and returned to Brown Chapel to avoid more violence. The second march is sometimes called Turnaround Tuesday.

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Selma to Montgomery: Final Third March
Selma to Montgomery: Final Third March

On March 21, 1965 a third march began in Selma. The marchers, grew to be over 25,000 people, and protected by military police and Army troops reached the Alabama State Capitol building on March 25. Here, Dr. King delivered his Our God is Marching oration, demanding voting rights for African Americans.


VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965


The most important Federal Voting Rights Legislation since Reconstruction - Giving Teeth to the 15th Amendment after 95 Years


Just four months after public horror over the brutality seen at the Selma March, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965.

[excerpt] National Archives. Milestone Documents"The Voting Rights Act had an immediate impact. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, one-third by federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote." -- National Archives. Milestone Documents.  Read More.

Under the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the federal government takes immediate action against unconstitutional acts that limit minority group voting rights. The Act declares literacy tests unconstitutional and makes it illegal to impose discriminatory measures on who can vote. The legislation  provides enforcement mechanisms for the federal government to ensure states comply.

Sections 2, 4, and 5  of the VRA will be immensely powerful and later challenged in the Supreme Court.  The Voting Rights Act was amended in 1970, 1975, 1982, 1992, and 2006.
Signing the VRA 1965 Signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr., Clarence Mitchell, and Patricia Roberts Harris. 8/6/1965 in President's Room of U.S. Capitol (collection: LBJ Presidential Library)
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Section 2 of VRA
Section 2 of VRA

Section 2. Modeled on the language of the 15th amendment, contained a nationwide prohibition of the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color. It created mechanisms to challenge discriminatory practices in jurisdictions not covered by the Section 5 preclearance rule.


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Section 4 of VRA
Section 4 of VRA

Section 4: "When Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country. Section 4(a) of the Act established a formula to identify those areas and to provide for more stringent remedies where appropriate. The first of these targeted remedies was a five-year suspension of "a test or device," such as a literacy test as a prerequisite to register to vote. The second was the requirement for review, under Section 5, of any change affecting voting made by a covered area either by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or by the Attorney General. The third was the ability of the Attorney General to certify that specified jurisdictions also required the appointment of federal examiners. These examiners would prepare and forward lists of persons qualified to vote. The final remedy under the special provisions is the authority of the Attorney General to send federal observers to those jurisdictions that have been certified for federal examiners.

Section 4 also contains several other provisions, such as Section 4(e) and Section 4(f), that guarantee the right to register and vote to those with limited English proficiency. Section 4(e) provides that the right to register and vote may not be denied to those individuals who have completed the sixth grade in a public school, such as those in Puerto Rico, where the predominant classroom language is a language other than English. In Section 4(f), the Act addresses the ability of those persons who are members of language minority groups identified in Section 4(f)(2), to register and vote as well as to get information relating to the electoral process in a manner that will ensure their meaningful participation in the electoral process" - Civil Rights Division, U.S. Dept of Justice


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Section 5 of VRA
Section 5 of VRA

Section 5 and Preclearance. Section 5 required jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory voting practices to obtain preclearance (approval) from the District Court for the District of Columbia or the U.S. Attorney General for any new voting practices and procedures.


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1970 VRA Amendment
1970 VRA Amendment

1970: Extended Section 5 for five years.

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1975 VRA Amendment
1975 VRA Amendment

Requires districts with significant numbers of non-English speaking voters to provide assistance to register and vote. Extended Section 5 for seven years.

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1982 VRA Amendment
1982 VRA Amendment

Special provisions of the Act relating to Section 4 are extended for 25 years. Makes it easier for the elderly and people with disabilities to vote.

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1992 VRA Amendment
1992 VRA Amendment

Extends the prohibition of covered States and political subdivisions from providing voting materials only in English.

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2006 VRA Amendment
2006 VRA Amendment

Renewed special provisions of the Act as part of the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Cesar E. Chavez, Barbara Jordan, William Velazquez and Dr. Hector Garcia Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments


26th AMENDMENT RATIFIED (1971)


Lowers Voting Age to 18

Old enough to fight, old enough to vote

An effort to lower the voting age during World War II had failed, even though the War's draft age had been set at 18. 
But the experience of the Vietnam War fueled the successful drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

Section I of the 26th Amendment"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."

Right to vote for students

The Student Vote, 1972 (collection: National Museum of American History)


HOME RULE FOR D.C. (1973)


Some Home Rule in District of Columbia

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gave Congress legislative control over what would become the District of Columbia.

The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act (also known as the D.C. Home Rule Act) gave District residents more control over their local government, allowing them to elect a city council and a mayor, who would pass and enforce local laws.

This Act allows Congress to review and approve or reject District legislation and its annual budget.

VAEHA (1984)


More Voting Rights for the Elderly and Handicapped

The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act (VAEHA) was enacted by Congress in 1984. VAEHA requires states to take steps to make the voting process accessible to the elderly and for those with disabilities.


UOCAVA (1986)


More Voting Rights for Uniformed and Overseas Citizens

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) requires states and territories to allow members of the uniformed services serving away from home, their family members, and U.S. citizens residing outside the country to register and vote absentee in federal elections.

UOCAVA has been amended on several occasions. The most recent major amendments are the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009

ADA (1990)


More Voting Rights Protection for Disabled Voters

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires election works and polling sites provide services to assist disabled voters.

[excerpt] Voting and Polling Places at ADA.GOV Enter Content Here"The ADA requires state and local governments and their election officials to ensure that people with disabilities have a full and equal opportunity to vote in all elections. This includes federal, state, and local elections. And it includes all parts of voting, like voter registration, selecting a location for polling places, and voting, whether on election day or during an early or absentee voting process." -- ADA.GOV

Pres. Bush and ADA
  July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with the Disabilities Act during a ceremony in the Rose Garden.

MOTOR VOTER ACT (1993)


Expanding Voter Registration Opportunities and Safeguarding Voter Registration Lists


[excerpt] The National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA)"The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (also known as the NVRA or “motor voter law”) sets forth certain voter registration requirements with respect to elections for federal office.
Section 5
of the NVRA requires that States offer voter registration opportunities at State motor vehicle agencies.
Section 6
of the NVRA requires that States offer voter registration opportunities by mail-in application.
Section 7
of the NVRA requires that States offer voter registration opportunities at certain State and local offices, including public assistance and disability offices.
Section 8
of the NVRA contains requirements with respect to the administration of voter registration by States and requires States to implement procedures to maintain accurate and current voter registration lists."
Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
LWV and the NVRAIn the 1980s and 1990s, the
League worked to break down barriers to voting
by supporting the re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and working on a campaign for passage and implementation of the landmark National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). 
Read More.

FELONS AND THE VOTE (1990s-present day)


Gradual Expansion of Right to Vote to Some Felons

There was a spate of felony disenfranchisement laws instituted after the Civil War. Some scholarly studies contend that felon disenfranchisement has been part of targeted campaigns against the Black vote.

Historically,  it is common for the states to make felons ineligible to vote both while incarcerated and after release. However, in the last 20 years, there is a trend towards reinstating voting rights. 

All U.S. states have some process to either automatically restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated felons or allow ex-felons to request restoration. Currently (2023), in only two states, Vermont and Maine, and in the District of Columbia can felons vote while imprisoned.

The Legal Cases Continue

Former felons find it very difficult, if not impossible, to regain voting rights in certain states. Legal battles over the rights of the formerly incarcerated continue.

On Friday, August 4, 2023 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Mississippi's lifetime voting ban on people convicted of various felonies violates the 8th Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws, and the 1st Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech.

[excerpt] U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit August 4, 2023Mississippi denies this precious right to a large class of its citizens, automatically, mechanically, and with no thought given to whether it is proportionate as punishment for an amorphous and partial list of crimes...

Mississippi stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear and consistent trend in our Nation against permanent disenfranchisement.
And in our independent judgment—a judgment under the Eighth Amendment that the Supreme Court requires we make—Section 241’s [of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890] permanent disenfranchisement serves no legitimate penological purpose. By severing former offenders from the body politic forever, Section 241 ensures that they will never be fully rehabilitated, continues to punish them beyond the term their culpability requires, and serves no protective function to society. It is thus a cruel and unusual punishment...
Dennis Hopkins, et al. v Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.

Virginia

In Virginia (2023), former felons must apply individually to the state of Virginia to have voting rights restored. Until the state acts, these individuals are barred from voting.

Across the Nation



Felony/Criminal convictions and voting

Can People Conviction of a Felony Vote? Felony Voting Laws by State (source: Brennan Center, July 5, 2023)

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Richardson v. Ramirez 1974
Richardson v. Ramirez 1974

This was a 1974 landmark Supreme Court decision, decided 6-3, that ruled that states may deny the vote to convicted felons. This is the first U.S. Supreme Court case that examinted the constitutionality of felon disenfranchisement. The Court held that disenfranchisement of convicted felons who had completed their sentences and paroles did not deny them equal protection of the laws.

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Voting Rights Restoration in Virginia
Voting Rights Restoration in Virginia

"No person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless his civil rights have been restored by the governor or other appropriate authority (VA Const. Art. 2, § 1). The Department of Corrections is required to provide persons convicted of felonies with information regarding voting rights restoration and assist with the process established by the governor for the review of applications (VA Code Ann. § 53.1-231.1 et seq.). Individuals with felony convictions may petition the courts in an attempt to restore their voting rights (VA Code Ann. § 53.1-231.2). 


In 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam released an executive action that allows any person released from incarceration to qualify for restoration of voting rights.

In 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin reversed that practice and began requiring individuals to apply for rights restoration once again."-- Brief, Felon Voting Rights, Nat. Conf. of State Legislatures



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Johnson v. Bush 2005
Johnson v. Bush 2005

"The Brennan Center for Justice and New York University’s School of Law files a class-action suit on behalf of 600,000 disenfranchised Florida citizens against an 1868 Florida law that permanently took away convicted felons’ right to vote... They believe that the law is discriminatory in intent because it disproportionately affects African Americans, and, therefore, it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause and the Fifteenth Amendment’s prohibition of discriminating against voters by race. In the case of Johnson v. Bush (2005), the U.S. Court of Appeals upholds the law on the grounds that it applies to all felons regardless of race." -- Annenberg Classroom, 15th Amendment


HAVA (2002)


Improving Election Administration


[excerpt] Help America Vote Act - U.S. Elections Assistance Commission "HAVA creates new mandatory minimum standards for states to follow in several key areas of election administration. The law provides funding to help states meet these new standards, replace voting systems and improve election administration. HAVA also established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to assist the states regarding HAVA compliance and to distribute HAVA funds to the states. EAC is also charged with creating voting system guidelines and operating the federal government's first voting system certification program. EAC is also responsible for maintaining the National Voter Registration form, conducting research, and administering a national clearinghouse on elections that includes shared practices, information for voters and other resources to improve elections. HAVA requires that the states implement the following new programs and procedures:
    Provisional Voting
    Voting Information
    Updated and Upgraded Voting Equipment
    Statewide Voter Registration Databases
    Voter Identification Procedures
    Administrative Complaint Procedures..."
About the Help America Vote Act, U.S. Elections Assistance Commission


Pres. Bush signs HAVA

Pres. George W. Bush signs  Help America Vote Act of 2002 into law in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building Tuesday, Oct. 29. 
White House photo by Paul Morse


MOVE ACT (2009)


Improving Voting Process for Military and Overseas Voters

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act ("Move Act") expands the UOCAVA Act of 1986 and gives greater voting protections to service members, their families, and other overseas citizens.

SHELBY COUNTY v. HOLDER (2013)


U.S. Supreme Court Case Erases Fundamental Protections Against Racial Discrimination in Voting

In Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S.  Supreme Court ended the powerful preclearance provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required oversight of states with histories of racial discrimination at the ballot box. Preclearance requires pre-approval from the Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before making legal changes that would affect voting rights.

[excerpt] LWVUS Legal Center "In June of 2013, the Supreme Court held that the formula in Section 4(b) was outdated and could no longer be used to enforce the Section 5 preclearance system. The Court invited Congress to enact a new coverage formula. Following the ruling, many of the previously covered jurisdictions enacted anti-voter bills that would have been struck down under the preclearance system, including Alabama. The ruling is widely cited by voting rights activists and experts as one of the largest setbacks for voting rights in modern history." -- LWVUS, Legal Center

VRA Section 5 states in June 2013 List of those states covered as a whole by Section 5 of VRA at the time of the Shelby County decision. - U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Division

BRNOVICH, et al. v. DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE (2021)


U.S. Supreme Court Case Rules on Section 2 of The Voting Rights Act of 1965

In the opinion of the LWVUS and the LWV of Arizona, this U.S. Supreme Court decision made it more difficult to challenge discriminatory voting practices in court under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Brnovich, refers to Mark Brnovich, the Attorney General of Arizona at the time of the lawsuit filing with the Supreme Court.

The case was whether limits placed by Arizona on ballot collection and out-of-precinct voting violated Section 2 of the VRA. Section 2 prohibits states and localities from imposing any “qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure… in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” The Supreme Court upheld Arizona's ballot collection restrictions and out-of-precinct voting policy.

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