Bernie Sanders, et al., saying “What our constitution says is that everybody can vote. So people in jail can vote.” do not have a clue as to what the Constitution says about voting.
The Constitution does not give the right for anyone to vote when it was written voters were required to be property owners. If a person did not own property, they could not vote.
This timeline of who can and cannot vote in America shows that voting is clearly a privilege granted by the government, not a Constitutional right civil or otherwise.
U.S. Voting Rights Timeline
1776 Only people who own land can vote
Declaration of Independence signed. Right to vote during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods is restricted to property owners—most of whom are white male Protestants over the age of 21.
1787 No federal voting standard—states decide who can vote
U.S. Constitution adopted. Because there is no agreement on a national standard for voting rights, states are given the power to regulate their own voting laws. In most cases, voting remains in the hands of white male landowners.
1789 George Washington elected president. Only 6% of the population can vote.
1790 Citizen=White
1790 Naturalization Law passed. It explicitly states that only “free white” immigrants can become naturalized citizens.
1848 Activists for ending slavery and women’s rights join together Women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, NY. Frederick Douglass, a newspaper editor, and former slave, attend the event and gives a speech supporting universal voting rights. His speech helps convince the convention to adopt a resolution calling for voting rights for women.
1848 Citizenship granted, but voting denied
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War and guarantees U.S. citizenship to Mexicans living in the territories conquered by the U.S. However, English language requirements and violent intimidation limit access to voting rights.
1856 Vote expanded to all white men
North Carolina is the last state to remove property ownership as a requirement to
vote.
1866 Movements unite and divide
Two women’s rights activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, form an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of universal voting rights. The organization later divides and regroups over disagreements in strategies to gain the vote for women and African Americans.
1868 Former slaves granted citizenship
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed. Citizenship is defined and granted to former slaves. Voters, however, are explicitly defined as male. Although the U.S. Voting Rights Timeline Mobilize the Immigrant Vote 2004 amendment forbids states from denying any rights of citizenship, voting regulation is still left in the hands of the states.
1870 Vote cannot be denied because of race, explicitly – so other discriminatory tactics used
15th Amendment passed. It states that the right to vote cannot be denied by the federal or state governments based on race. However, soon after, some states begin to enact measures such as voting taxes and literacy tests that restrict the actual ability of African Americans to register to vote. Violence and other intimidation tactics are also used.
1872 Women try to vote
Susan B. Anthony is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York, for attempting to vote in the presidential election. At the same time, Sojourner Truth, a former slave and advocate for justice and equality, appears at a polling booth in Grand Rapids, Michigan, demanding a ballot but she is turned away.
1876 Indigenous people cannot vote
The Supreme Court ruled that Native Americans are not citizens as defined by the 14th Amendment and, thus, cannot vote.
1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act bars people of Chinese ancestry from naturalizing to become U.S. citizens.
1887 Assimilation=Right to Vote
Dawes Act passed. It grants citizenship to Native Americans who give up their tribal affiliations
1890 Wyoming admitted to statehood and becomes first state to legislate voting for women in its constitution.
1890 Indigenous people must apply for citizenship
The Indian Naturalization Act grants citizenship to Native Americans whose applications are approved—similar to the process of immigrant naturalization.1912-13 Women lead voting rights marches through New York and Washington, D.C.
1919 Military Service=Citizenship for Native Americans
Native Americans who served in the military during World War I are granted U.S.citizenship.
Mobilize the Immigrant Vote 2004 – Capacity Building Series
1920 Right to vote extended to women
19th Amendment passed, giving women the right to vote in both state and federal elections.
1922 Asian≠White≠Citizen
Supreme Court rules that people of Japanese heritage are ineligible to become naturalized citizens. In the next year, the Court finds that Asian Indians are also not eligible to naturalize.
1924 Again, citizenship granted but voting denied
The Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans, but many states nonetheless make laws and policies which prohibit Native Americans from voting.
1925 Military Service=Citizenship for Filipinos
Congress bars Filipinos from U.S. citizenship unless they have served three years in the Navy.
Congress bars Filipinos from U.S. citizenship unless they have served three years in the Navy.
1926 State violence used to prevent people from exercising their right to vote, while attempting to register to vote in Birmingham, Alabama, a group of African American women are beaten by election officials.
1947 Legal barriers to Native American voting removed
Miguel Trujillo, a Native American, and former Marine sues New Mexico for not allowing him to vote. He wins and New Mexico and Arizona are required to give the vote to all Native Americans.
1952 McCarran-Walter Act grants all people of Asian ancestry the right to become citizens.
1961 23rd amendment passed. It gives citizens of Washington, D.C. the right to vote for U.S. president. But to this day, the district’s residents—most of whom are African American—still do not have voting representation in Congress.
1963-64 Voting rights as civil rights
Large-scale efforts in the South to register African Americans to vote are intensified. However, state officials refuse to allow African Americans to register by using voting taxes, literacy tests, and violent intimidation. Among the efforts launched is Freedom Summer, where close to a thousand civil rights workers of all races and backgrounds converge on the South to support voting rights.
1964 No special tax to vote
24th Amendment passed. It guarantees that the right to vote in federal elections will not be denied for failure to pay any tax.
1965 Grassroots movement forces change in the law:
Voting Rights Act passed. It forbids states from imposing discriminatory restrictions on who can vote, and provides mechanisms for the federal government to enforce its provisions. The legislation is passed largely under pressure from protests and marches earlier that year challenging Alabama officials who injured and killed people during African American voter registration efforts.
1966 After the legal change, the struggle continues for social change Civil rights activist James Meredith is wounded by a sniper during a solo “Walk Against Fear” voter registration march between Tennessee and Mississippi. The next day, nearly 4,000 African Americans register to vote. And other civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael continue the march while Meredith heals. Meredith rejoins March at its conclusion in Mississippi.
1971 Voting age lowered to 18
26th Amendment passed, granting voting rights to 18-year-olds. The amendment is largely a result of Vietnam War-protests demanding a lowering of the voting age on the premise that people who are old enough to fight are old enough to vote.
1975 Voting materials in various languages Amendments to the Voting Rights Act require that certain voting materials be printed in languages besides English so that people who do not read English can participate in the voting process.
1993 Making voter registration easier
National Voter Registration Act passed. Intends to increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote by making registration available at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and public assistance and disabilities agencies.
2000 Residents of U.S. colonies are citizens, but cannot vote
A month prior to the presidential election, a federal court decides that Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico, though U.S. citizens, cannot vote for U.S. president. Residents of U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin
A month prior to the presidential election, a federal court decides that Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico, though U.S. citizens, cannot vote for U.S. president. Residents of U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin
Mobilize the Immigrant Vote 2004 – Capacity Building Series Islands—nearly 4.1 million people total—cannot vote in presidential elections and do not have voting representation in the U.S Congress.
2001 Debate—Should voting rights be taken away from felons? For how long?
The National Commission on Federal Election Reform recommends that all states allow felons to regain their right to vote after completing their criminal sentences. Nearly 4 million US citizens cannot vote because of past felony convictions. In California, felons are prohibited from voting while they are in prison or on parole. But, in other states, especially in the South, a person with a felony conviction is forever prohibited from voting in that state. These laws are a legacy of post-Civil War attempts to prevent African Americans from voting. Ex-felons are largely poor and of color.
2002 Trying to solve election inconsistency with more federal voting standards
Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed in response to the disputed 2000 presidential election. Massive voting reform effort requires states to comply with the federal mandate for provisional ballots, disability access, centralized, computerized voting lists, electronic voting and requirement that first-time voters present identification before voting.
