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Final State Removes Property Requirements for Voting
In 1856, North Carolina became the final state to abolish the property requirement to vote. Although they had removed this requirement, they did still have poll taxes in place so the problem was not fully solved. Aljazeera -
Congress Passes the 15th Amendment
This amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. Unfortunately, many southern states implemented unfair laws that stopped most of them from voting. It will be a while until they have unrestricted right to vote. National Archives -
Guinn v. United States
Guinn v. United States was a court case that took place in Oklahoma, in which it was argued that the Grandfather Clause and Literacy Tests were used to prevent African Americans from voting. They fought for 2 years on this case, but on June 21st, 1915 the case was decided and the Grandfather Clause and Literacy Tests were outlawed. Iowa -
Congress Passes 19th Amendment
On June 4th, 1920, Congress passed the 19th Amendment. the 19th Amendment, which started being pushed for in the early 1800's. This Amendment gave all woman, regardless of their skin color the right to vote nationally and unlike the 15th Amendment there were not extra steps that states took to prevent the women from voting. National Archives -
Alice Paul
Alice Paul was a women's rights activist who fought for women's suffrage. She protested with different women's rights associations until finally after years of hard work, the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, giving women the right to vote. The passing of this amendment was the peak of her career. nps -
Indian Citizenship Act
Congress passed this act, which gave citizenship to Native Americans. So that was pretty good, but their right to vote was still controlled by the states, so some states didn't let them vote, until 1957, when all states let Native Americans vote Library of Congress -
Jennings Randolph
Jennings Randolph had a spot in the House of Representatives from 1933-1947. He is best known for his advocating for the 26th Amendment, which was for 18-year-olds to vote, because they were old enough to fight in the war, but not old enough to vote, which was kinda unfair. His mission was finally successful with the passing of the 26th Amendment in 1971 Congress.gov -
The McCarran-Walter Act
This act helped reinforce The Immigration act of 1925, and brought some great benefits. An example of this would be ending Asian exclusion from Immigration, and including a new system that allows people to immigrate based off of their skills, and if they had family they could be reunited with inside of the United States.
Office of The Historian -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Passed by Lyndon B. Johnson, It made it illegal to unfairly discriminate against voters, like what the southern states have been doing. It was a big moment because African Americans were struggling with fair voting for a long time.
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Reynolds v. Sims
During this court case, the argument was that some state legislative districts had unequal representation because it was based on area, not population. This resulted in an unbalanced representation in rural areas, as the district lines were outdated. So this court case ensued, and the result was lots of disagreements, and many areas were conflicted over the decision. Britannica -
Congress Passes the 24th Ammendment
This amendment was passed to address the issue of poll tax. There were a lot of people who couldn't vote because of the tax set on voting. The amendment states that no state can use any sort of poll tax on voting. Constiution Congress -
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer was a "voter registration drive" aiming to get more black voters in Mississippi. Organized by many different civil rights organizations, they fought for equality in the vote. In the end, not many people who registered to vote actually were able to vote. It didn't really achieve its main goal, but some say it convinced Lyndom B. Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Acts of 64' and 65'. History -
Congress Passes the 26th Amendment
Congress passed the 26th Amendment amidst the peak of the Vietnam War, in response to those who were 18 being old enough to get drafted into war by their president, but not old enough to vote for the president as you had to be 21 before the 26th Amendment. Although it was first called for this to happen much before the Vietnam war, it was not a popular issue until the 70's. Nixon Library -
Military And Overseas Empowerment Act
The Military And Overseas Empowerment Act (MOVE) allows those who are stationed elsewhere outside of the United States to send ballots in within 45 days of a federal election. This ensures that those who are stationed outside of our country Serving our country can still participate in our vote even whilst stationed elsewhere. Archive of Public Affairs -
Americans With Disabilities Act
Signed by President George Bush, it is a law that prohibits discrimination against disabled people. It was a big deal because people with disabilities got mistreated, so this made more accommodations and such to make life easier for them. ADA website -
Motor Voter Law
National Voter Registration Act of 1993 basically made it easier for all Americans to vote. It enhanced the registration process and made voting more accessible for all Americans, in order to get more people to vote. Justice.gov -
Help America Vote Act
The Help America Vote Act, originally signed by George W Bush, was an Act that set minimum requirements that the states must adhere to whilst elections are running. An example of some of these requirements would be needing to have up to date machinery to gather poll information, and needing to clearly state how voters will be identified when they go in to vote. -
Florida Amendment 4 Passed
Florida Amendment 4, also known as the Voting Rights For Felons Initiative, would be passed in November of 2018 and would allow voting rights to be restored to those who had been previously incarcerated with felony charges and that had finished their sentencing to be allowed to vote in State Level and National Level polls. Vote-Marion -
John Lewis Voting Rights Act
This Act changed how states would be treated when changing voting laws based off of how many previous infractions they have against voting rights. For example, if the state you live in has violated voting rights 15 times within the past 25 years they will be required to ask before making changes to their voting laws for the next 10. Congress