1. Content Specialist, Florida Joint Center for Citizenship
Highlights: The Evolution of Voting Rights and their Impact on Political Participation
SS.7.C.3.7
Analyze the impact of the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments on participation of minority groups in the American political process.
Terri Susan Fine, Ph.D.
Content Specialist, Florida Joint Center for Citizenship

2. The Evolution of Voting Rights
The U. S. Constitution has been amended to extend voting rights to specific populations and to reduce participation barriers. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further extended voting rights by limiting or eliminating state-level practices that restricted voting rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
Several concerns have been raised about the extension of voting rights that include:
What is “voting”? Is voting the process of selecting a person to hold elective office only, or does voting expand to other aspects of elections including voter registration and voting in nomination contests (selecting a candidate)?
What is the role of the states in elections? Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states “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, except as to the places of choosing Senators.” This statement extends meaningful states’ rights and concerns have been raised about how these constitutional amendments and the Voting Rights Act limit states’ rights in elections.

3. 19th Century Voting Rights Expansions
Event
Event Details
13th Amendment (1865)
“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.”
14th Amendment (1868)
Section 1. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Section 2 (excerpt). “But when the right to vote at any election…is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, … the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.”
15th Amendment (1870)
“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.”

4. 20th Century Voting Rights Expansions
Event
Event Details
19th Amendment (1920)
“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 sex.”
24th Amendment (1964)
“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.”
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Contained several minority voting-related provisions including ending unequal application of voter registration requirements. Title VIII also required that voter registration and voting data be compiled in those areas specified by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Outlawed discriminatory voting practices directed against African-Americans such as literacy and good citizenship tests. These tests had the effect of denying registration to most African-American voters, especially in southern states such as Alabama and Mississippi.
26th Amendment (1971)
“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.”