By: Jamil Hardaway
Voting in the United States has been a staple of this country since its birth. Starting in 1776, when the country gained its independence from Great Britain, only white males were allowed to vote. Even then, they had to be over the age of 21 and be of protestant religion.
From then on, no major changes were made to the rules of voting until 1830. By then, most states had dropped religion as a requirement to vote, so this led to a larger amount of people hitting the polls. Due to this increase, political parties started to form as well.
Fast forward about 30 years later to 1868 when the 14th Amendment of the Constitution was passed. This amendment finally recognized African Americans as humans and granted them the right to vote. The only problem with this was state officials were not abiding this change, and many prevented African Americans from using this right.
Two years later, the 15th Amendment was made to ensure that no state or local government denied anyone that right. Through all these changes, and as more and more people were allowed to vote, there still was a group of people who were still not granted that right.
It wasn’t until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution, that women were finally granted the right to vote. In 1964 and 1965 we were introduced to the 24th Amendment which got rid of “poll tax,” and gave us the Voting Rights Act which banned the use of poll tax, literacy tests, and anything else that tried to hinder someone from voting.
Finally, the last significant change that happened to voting came in 1971 when the voting age was lowered to 18. That means college students like us can vote, too! The right to vote hasn’t always existed, and we’re lucky that we get to participate in this process. Now, after reading about the history of voting, I hope you’re encouraged to hit the polls this November 5 and go vote!!!!
