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History of the poll tax by state from 1868 to 1966. Southern states had adopted the poll tax as a requirement for voting as part of a series of laws in the late 19th century intended to exclude black Americans from politics so far as practicable without violating the Fifteenth Amendment. This required that voting not be limited by "race, color ...
The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1964) prohibited poll taxes in federal elections; five states (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia) continued to require poll taxes for voters in state elections. By this ruling, the Supreme Court banned the use of poll taxes in state elections.
The poll tax mechanism varied on a state-by-state basis; in Alabama, the poll tax was cumulative, meaning that a man had to pay all poll taxes due from the age of twenty-one onward in order to vote. In other states, poll taxes had to be paid for several years before being eligible to vote. Enforcement of poll tax laws was patchy.
A poll tax is a tax of a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Various privileges of citizenship, including voter registration or issuance of driving licenses and resident hunting and fishing licenses, were conditioned on payment of poll taxes to encourage the collection of this tax revenue.
Forssenius the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes or "equivalent or milder substitutes" cannot be imposed on voters. [citation needed] 1966. Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. [25] The poll tax would remain on the books, unenforceable ...
[3] [4] [5] 1964: Poll tax payment prohibited from being used as a condition for voting in federal elections (only) by the Twenty-fourth Amendment. 1965: Protection of voter registration and voting for racial minorities, later applied to language minorities, is established by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This has also been applied to ...
On Nov. 5, there was only one Constitutional Amendment on Louisiana voters' ballots. Passing this amendment allows certain federal funds be diverted to coastal preservation, as well as alterations ...
[173] [174] Though the state law requiring payment of poll taxes in order to vote was rendered void by the decision, and the legislature passed a resolution that year to abolish it, the amendment was not formally approved until 2009, when it was reintroduced by Congresswoman Alma Allen.