Amendment XXIV
Poll Tax Barred
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1. 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 any poll tax or other tax.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Ratified: January 23, 1964
The 24th Amendment, which ensures the vote cannot be taken away for failing to pay a poll tax, was proposed on August 27, 1962.
| # | State | Date | * |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illinois | Nov 14, 1962 | |
| 2 | New Jersey | Dec 3, 1962 | |
| 3 | Oregon | Jan 25, 1963 | |
| 4 | Montana | Jan 28, 1963 | |
| 5 | West Virginia | Feb 1, 1963 | |
| 6 | New York | Feb 4, 1963 | |
| 7 | Maryland | Feb 6, 1963 | |
| 8 | California | Feb 7, 1963 | |
| 9 | Alaska | Feb 11, 1963 | |
| 10 | Rhode Island | Feb 14, 1963 | |
| 11 | Indiana | Feb 19, 1963 | |
| 12 | Utah | Feb 20, 1963 | |
| 13 | Michigan | Feb 20, 1963 | |
| 14 | Colorado | Feb 21, 1963 | |
| 15 | Ohio | Feb 27, 1963 | |
| 16 | Minnesota | Feb 27, 1963 | |
| 17 | New Mexico | Mar 5, 1963 | |
| 18 | Hawaii | Mar 6, 1963 | |
| 19 | North Dakota | Mar 7, 1963 | |
| 20 | Idaho | Mar 8, 1963 | |
| 21 | Washington | Mar 14, 1963 | |
| 22 | Vermont | Mar 15, 1963 | |
| 23 | Nevada | Mar 19, 1963 | |
| 24 | Connecticut | Mar 20, 1963 | |
| 25 | Tennessee | Mar 21, 1963 | |
| 26 | Pennsylvania | Mar 25, 1963 | |
| 27 | Wisconsin | Mar 26, 1963 | |
| 28 | Kansas | Mar 28, 1963 | |
| 29 | Massachusetts | Mar 28, 1963 | |
| 30 | Nebraska | Apr 4, 1963 | |
| 31 | Florida | Apr 18, 1963 | |
| 32 | Iowa | Apr 24, 1963 | |
| 33 | Delaware | May 1, 1963 | |
| 34 | Missouri | May 13, 1963 | |
| 35 | New Hampshire | Jun 12, 1963 | |
| 36 | Kentucky | Jun 27, 1963 | |
| 37 | Maine | Jan 16, 1964 | |
| 38 | South Dakota | Jan 23, 1964 | * |
| 39 | Virginia | Feb 25, 1977 | |
| 40 | North Carolina | May 3, 1989 | |
| Ratified in 514 days | |||
This amendment was specifically rejected by Mississippi on Dec 20, 1962.
History: One of the last legal vestiges of segregation was the effort to keep the black population from participating in the vote. With most methods for keeping the black vote to a minimum declared unconstitutional, several Southern states found an answer - the poll tax. The poll tax has a long history, and was often used in Europe to raise funds. With a poll tax, in order to vote, a certain tax must be paid. The tax is the same for all, which allowed the generally more affluent white population access to the polls with a minimum of pain, while the generally poorer black population would have trouble justifying trading food on the table for a vote in the ballot box. Worse, different kinds of poll taxes were implemented, some accumulating even if no attempt was made to vote, meaning increasingly higher back-taxes to be paid to gain the vote.
In 1939, Congress began to try to get rid of the poll tax, but history was not behind them. After all, in colonial times and when the Constitution first same into effect, land ownership was often a requirement for suffrage. Though only five states still had a poll tax by the time the amendment passed Congress, Supreme Court rulings made it doubtful that mere legislation would eliminate the tax altogether. Proposed by Congress on August 27, 1962, the 24th Amendment was ratified within a year and a half, on January 23, 1964 (514 days).
