The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy, but it’s also something we tend to take for granted. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court and anti-voter politicians have pushed to restrict that right. We’re working to keep it intact by urging Congress to craft legislation that safeguards the ballot box from discrimination and makes voting more accessible for everyone.
Since the Reconstruction era, state and local governments have used Jim Crow laws to deny voting rights to non-white citizens, those who don’t own property, women, and other “undesirable” groups. This changed after the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments abolished slavery, granted citizenship and equal voting rights to all Americans regardless of race or previous condition of servitude, and prohibited voter discrimination on the basis of race. In 1869, Wyoming became the first state to allow women to vote, and in 1920, all states were required to grant them the franchise after the Nineteenth Amendment banned voter discrimination based on sex.
In addition to these constitutional provisions, Congress has enacted a number of laws that safeguard the right to vote by prohibiting poll taxes, literacy tests, and other restrictive voting practices. The Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section enforces the civil provisions of these laws. This fact sheet provides an overview of the Department’s enforcement efforts and a list of resources for jurisdictions interested in implementing these important protections. You can also find additional information about a variety of other topics related to voting by visiting the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section website.