The Twenty-fourth Amendment

"Section 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.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."


The Twenty-fourth Amendment made poll taxes illegal. Poll taxes (paying to vote) appeared in the southern states to keep newly freed African Americans from voting. It is extremely sad to me that people would stoop to this level to keep someone from exercising their right to vote. This Amendment was a great response to the issue, but that doesn't fix the people that created poll taxes in the first place.

This is a picture of African American voters in 1945 which is what the poll taxes were created to stop. Imagine being 25 and able to vote, but you couldn't afford to. Taxation for representation.

This is a video of reporter Rachel Maddow calling long lines a kind of poll tax. In the world that we live in today time is our most precious resource. Having to sit in line for hours on end to vote costs money and could cost people time at their jobs earning money.