BackgroundVoter identification laws are a part of an ongoing strategy to roll back decades of progress on voting rights. Thirty-four states have identification requirements at the polls. Seven states have strict photo ID laws, under which voters must present one of a limited set of forms of government-issued photo ID in order to cast a regular ballot – no exceptions. Show
Voter ID laws deprive many voters of their right to vote, reduce participation, and stand in direct opposition to our country’s trend of including more Americans in the democratic process. Many Americans do not have one of the forms of identification states acceptable for voting. These voters are disproportionately low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Such voters more frequently have difficulty obtaining ID, because they cannot afford or cannot obtain the underlying documents that are a prerequisite to obtaining government-issued photo ID card. Voter ID Laws Deprive Many Americans of the Right to Vote
Voter ID Laws Are Discriminatory
Voter ID Requirements are a Solution in Search of a Problem
The ACLU has led the charge against Voter ID in several states, challenging voter ID laws in in states such as Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. For more information, please contact Robert Hoffman at or visit https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression/fighting-voter-id-requirements to learn more. One of the most important rights of American citizens is the franchise—the right to vote. Originally under the Constitution, only white male citizens over the age of 21 were eligible to vote. This shameful injustice has been corrected and voting rights have been extended several times over the course of our history. Today, citizens over the age of 18 cannot be denied the right to vote on the basis of race, religion, sex, disability, or sexual
orientation. In every state except North Dakota, citizens must register to vote, and laws regarding the registration process vary by State. The path to full voting rights for all American citizens was long and often challenging. The franchise was first extended to African Americans under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, passed during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. These amendments provided that all male citizens, regardless of their race, must
receive equal treatment under the law and not be deprived of their rights without due process. The Fifteenth Amendment is specifically dedicated to protecting the right of all citizens to vote, regardless of race. For practical purposes, this was not the end of the voting rights struggle for African Americans. Because of widespread discrimination in many states, including the use of poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests, and other more violent means, African Americans were not assured basic voting rights until President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Women were denied the right to vote until 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. Prior to that, women had only been able to vote in select States. Federal elections occur every two years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Every member of the House of Representatives and about one-third of the Senate is up for reelection in any given election year. A presidential election is held every fourth year. Federal elections are administered by State and local governments, and the specifics of how elections are conducted differ between States. The Constitution and laws of the United States grant States wide latitude in how they administer elections. Stay ConnectedWhat extended voting rights?President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act. Nixon: "The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has opened participation in the political process."
When did all men get the right to vote?15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870)
What eliminated the use of white primaries in Texas?Allwright, the Supreme Court ruled 8–1 against the Texas white primary system. In that case, the Court ruled that the 1923 Texas state law was unconstitutional, because it allowed the state Democratic Party to racially discriminate. After the case, most Southern states ended their selectively inclusive white primaries.
What happened to the Voting Rights Act in 2013?On June 25, 2013, the United States Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to use the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act to determine which jurisdictions are subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013).
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