This is atimeline of voting rights in the United States, documenting when various groups in the country gained the right to vote or weredisenfranchised.

1789

• TheConstitution of the United States recognizes that thestates have the power to set voting requirements. A few states allowed free Black men to vote, and New Jersey also included unmarried and widowed women who owned property.^[1] Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying White males (about 6% of the population).^[2]
• Georgia removes property requirement for voting.^[3]

1790

• TheNaturalization Act of 1790 allows free White persons born outside of the United States to become citizens. However, since each state set its own requirements for voting, this Act (and its successorNaturalization Act of 1795) did not automatically grant these naturalized citizens the right to vote.^[4]

1791

• Vermont is admitted as a new state, giving the vote to all men regardless of color or property ownership.^[5]

1792

• New Hampshire removes property ownership as requirement to vote.^[6]
• Kentucky is admitted as a new state, giving the vote to free men regardless of color or property ownership, although the vote would shortly be taken away from free Black people.^[5]
• Delaware removes property ownership as requirement to vote, but continues to require that voters pay taxes.^[3]

1798

• Georgia removes tax requirement for voting.^[3]

1800

• Only three states, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Vermont, had universal white male suffrage.^[7]

1807

• Voting rights are taken away from free black men and all womenin New Jersey.^[1]

1819

• Economic crisis stemming from thePanic of 1819 led to greater calls from propertyless men for the abolition of restrictions to voting; by 1830, the number of states with universal white male suffrage had risen to ten, although six still had property qualifications and eight had taxpaying qualifications. Territories on the frontier, eager to attract new settlers, also helped expand suffrage.^[7]

1821

• In 1821, the state ofNew York held aconstitutional convention which removed property requirements for white male voters, but required that "persons of colour" own $250 worth of property, "over and above all debts," in order to vote. White male voters were instead required to pay a tax, but this rule was abolished in an amendment of 1826. Requirements for persons of color were not affected by this amendment.^[8] Due to the state's policy of gradual emancipation, slavery persisted until 1827, but until then the proportion of African Americans who werefree (and thus potential voters) steadily increased.Native Americans still controlled large territories inUpstate New York, and though typically excluded from citizenship altogether, the property requirement applied to any voter who was not white.

1828

• The1828 presidential election was the first in which non-property-holding white males could vote in the vast majority of states. By the end of the 1820s, attitudes and state laws had shifted in favor of universal white male suffrage.^[9]
• Maryland passes a law to allowJews to vote.^[10] Maryland was the last state to remove religious restrictions for voting.^[11]

1837

• Voting rights are taken away from free black menin Pennsylvania.^[12]

1838

• Kentucky women are allowed to vote in school elections.^[13]

1840

• Voter turnout soared during the 1830s, reaching about 80% of adult white male population in the1840 presidential election.^[14]

1841

• TheDorr Rebellion takes place inRhode Island because men who did not own land could not vote.^[15]

1843

• Rhode Island drafts a new constitution extending voting rights to any free men regardless of whether they own property, provided they pay a $1 poll tax. Naturalized citizens are still not eligible to vote unless they own property.^[15]

1848

• Mexicans living in US territories are declared citizens in theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but are often discouraged from voting.^[11]

1856

• The last state to abolish property qualification wasNorth Carolina.^[11]

1860

• Tax-paying qualifications remained in five states in 1860 – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware and North Carolina. They survived in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island until the 20th century.[16] In addition, many poor whites were later disenfranchised.^[17][18]

1866

• Wisconsin gives black men the right to vote afterEzekiel Gillespie fights for his right to vote.^[19]

1867

• Congress passes theDistrict of Columbia Suffrage Act over Andrew Johnson's veto, granting voting rights all free men living in the District, regardless of racial background.^[20]

1868

• Citizenship is guaranteed to all male persons born or naturalized in the United States by theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, setting the stage for future expansions to voting rights.
• November 3: The right of black men to vote inIowa is approved through a voter referendum.^[21]

1869

• Women inWyoming get equal suffrage rights.^[22]

1870

• TheFifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
  • Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era began soon after. FormerConfederate states passedJim Crow laws and amendments to effectivelydisfranchise black and poor white voters throughpoll taxes,literacy tests,grandfather clauses and other restrictions, applied in a discriminatory manner. During this period, theSupreme Court generally upheld state efforts to discriminate against racial minorities; only later in the 20th century were these laws ruled unconstitutional. Black males in the Northern states could vote, but the majority of black males lived in the South.^[17][18]
• Women inUtah get the right to vote.^[23]

1875

• Minor v. Happersett goes to the Supreme Court, where it is decided that suffrage is not a right of citizenship and women do not necessarily have the right to vote.^[24]

1876

• Native Americans are ruled non-citizens and ineligible to vote by theSupreme Court of the United States.^[11]
• Virginia amends their state constitution to include paying apoll tax as a requirement to vote.^[25]

1882

• Chinese immigrants lose the right to become citizens and thus the ability to gain the right to vote through theChinese Exclusion Act.^{[11][Note 1]}
• Virginia amends their state constitution to eliminate paying thepoll tax as a requirement to vote.^[25]

1883

• Women inWashington Territory earn the right to vote.^[26]

1887

• Citizenship is granted toNative Americans who are willing to disassociate themselves from theirtribe by theDawes Act, making those males technically eligible to vote, however they were not considered “white” in many southern states and were routinely turned away at voting booths as were many other ethnicities that modern people would not view as “non-white” such as Italians, Greeks, and Irish.^{[27][28][29][30]}
• Women in Washington lose the right to vote.^[26]
• Women in Utah lose the right to vote under theEdmunds–Tucker Act.^[31]
• Kansas women earn the right to vote in municipal elections.^[22]
• Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, and South Dakota grant partial suffrage to women.^[13]

1890

• Native Americans can apply for citizenship through theIndian Naturalization Act.^[32]

1893

• Colorado passes full women's suffrage.^[22]

1896

• Women in Utah regain their right to vote.^[33][31]
• Grandfather clauses are enacted in Louisiana in order to disenfranchise black voters.^[34]
• Women's suffrage is won inIdaho.^[31]

1899

• The right to vote in theterritory of Hawaii is restricted to English andHawaiian speaking men and the territory is not allowed to make its own suffrage legislation.^[35]

1901

• Alabama enacts a cumulative poll tax in their state constitution. This means that all taxes that should have been paid since an eligible voter turned 21 must be paid before voting.^{[citation needed]}

1902

• Virginia amends their state constitution to bring back thepoll tax as a requirement to vote.^[25]

1910

• Washington state restores women's right to vote through the state constitution.^[26]

1911

• California women earn the right to vote following the passage ofCalifornia Proposition 4.^[31]

1912

• Women inArizona and Kansas earn the right to vote.^[31]
• Women in Oregon earn the right to vote.^[13]

1913

• Direct election ofSenators, established by theSeventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, gave voters rather than state legislatures the right to elect senators.^[36]
• White and African American women in theTerritory of Alaska earn the right to vote.^[37]
• Women inIllinois earn the right to vote in presidential elections.^[31]

1914

• Nevada andMontana women earn the right to vote.^[22]

1917

• Women in Arkansas earn the right to vote in primary elections.^[22]
• Women in Rhode Island earn the right to vote in presidential elections.^[31]
• Women in New York, Oklahoma, and South Dakota earn equal suffrage through their state constitutions.^[31]

1918

• Women in Texas earn the right to vote in primary elections.^[38]
• Women in South Dakota earn the right to vote with the passage of the Citizenship Amendment.^[39]

1920

• Women are guaranteed theright to vote by theNineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In practice, the same restrictions that hindered the ability of non-white men to vote now also applied to non-white women.

1923

• Texas passes awhite primary law.^[40]

1924

• AllNative Americans are granted citizenship and the right to vote through theIndian Citizenship Act, regardless of tribal affiliation. By this point, approximately two thirds of Native Americans were already citizens.^[41][42] Notwithstanding, some western states continued to bar Native Americans from voting until 1957.^[43][44]South Dakota refused to follow the law.^[45]

1925

• Alaska passes a literacy test designed to disenfranchiseAlaska Native voters.^[46]

1926

• Georgia passes a cumulative poll tax rule.^{[citation needed]}

1927

• Nixon v. Herndon is heard by the Supreme Court, which rules that white primary laws are unconstitutional.^[40]

1932

• Nixon v. Condon is heard by the Supreme Court which strikes down a Texas law to allow political parties to choose who can vote in their primary elections.^[40]

1933

• Poll taxes are abolished inPennsylvania.^{[citation needed]}

1935

• Grovey v. Townsend decides that the Democratic Party, as private organization, can determine who is allowed to join and therefore vote in the primaries.^[40]

1937

• Breedlove v. Suttles was heard by the Supreme Court which decides that Georgia is allowed to impose a poll tax.^{[citation needed]}

1943

• Chinese immigrants are given the right to gain citizenship and thus the right to vote by theMagnuson Act.^{[47][Note 1]}

1944

• The decision inGrovey v. Townsend is overturned by the case,Smith v. Allwright heard before the Supreme Court. It is decided that primary elections are an "integral component of the electoral process" and discrimination in participation in the primaries was prohibited.^[40]

1948

• Arizona andNew Mexico are among the last states to extend full voting rights to Native Americans, which had been opposed by some western states in contravention of theIndian Citizenship Act of 1924.^[44][48]

1951

• Butler v. Thompson is heard by the Supreme Court which rules that poll taxes are settled law that the state of Virginia is allowed to impose.^{[citation needed]}

1952

• All Americans with Asian ancestry are allowed to vote through theMcCarran Walter Act.^[11]

1954

• Native Americans living on reservations earn the right to vote inMaine.^[49][50]

1958

• The provision in theNorth Dakota state constitution that required Native Americans to renounce their tribal affiliations two years before an election is removed.^[51]

1959

• Alaska adopts a more lenient literacy test.^[52]

1961

• Residents ofWashington, D.C. are granted the right to vote in U.S. Presidential Elections by theTwenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[11]

1962–1964

• A historic turning point arrived after theU.S. Supreme Court underChief JusticeEarl Warren made a series of landmark decisions which helped establish the nationwide "one man, one vote"electoral system in the United States.
  • In March 1962, theWarren Court ruled inBaker v. Carr (1962) thatredistricting qualifies as ajusticiable question, thus enabling federal courts to hear redistricting cases.^[53]
  • In February 1964, the Warren Court ruled inWesberry v. Sanders (1964) that districts in theUnited States House of Representatives must be approximately equal in population.^[54]
  • In June 1964, the Warren Court ruled inReynolds v. Sims (1964) that each chamber of abicameralstate legislature must have electoral districts roughly equal in population.^[55][56][57]

1964

• Poll Tax payment prohibited from being used as a condition for voting in federal elections by theTwenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^{[citation needed]}

1965

• Protection of voter registration and voting for racial minorities, later applied to language minorities, is established by theVoting Rights Act of 1965.^[11] This has also been applied to correcting discriminatory election systems and districting.
• InHarman v. Forssenius the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes or "equivalent or milder substitutes" cannot be imposed on voters.^{[citation needed]}

1966

• Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court inHarper v. Virginia Board of Elections.^[25] The poll tax would remain on the books, unenforceable, until 2020.

1970

• Alaska ends the use of literacy tests.^[52]
• Native Americans who live on reservations inColorado are first allowed to vote in the state.^[58]

1971

• Adults aged 18 through 21 are granted the right to vote by theTwenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This was enacted in response toVietnam War protests, which argued that soldiers who were old enough to fight for their country should be granted the right to vote.^[36][59][60]

1972

• Requirement that a person reside in a jurisdiction for an extended period is prohibited by the Supreme Court inDunn v. Blumstein,405 U.S.330 (1972).^[61][62]

1973

• Washington, D.C. local elections, such asMayor andCouncilmen, restored after a 100-year gap inGeorgetown, and a 190-year gap in the wider city, ending Congress's policy of local election disfranchisement started in 1801 in this former portion of Maryland – see:D.C. Home rule.

1974

• A challenge tofelony disenfranchisement,Richardson v. Ramirez is filed, though the Supreme Court upholds California's policies.^[63]
• O'Brien v. Skinner upholds the rights of some people who areincarcerated to vote without interference from the government.^[64]

1975

• The Voting Rights Act is modified to provide voters information inNative American languages and other non-English languages.^[65][11]

1982

• A 25-year extension of the VRA is signed by PresidentRonald Reagan.^[34]

1983

• Texas repeals the lifelong prohibition against voters with felony convictions and institutes a five year waiting period after completing a sentence to vote.^[66]

1985

• Texas changes the five year waiting period to two years for people with felony convictions.^[66]

1986

• United States Military and Uniformed Services,Merchant Marine, other citizens overseas, living on bases in the United States, abroad, or aboard ship are granted the right to vote by theUniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.^[67]

1993

• TheNational Voter Registration Act passes and is meant to make voter registration available in more locations.^[11]

1997

• Texas ends the two year waiting period for people with felony convictions to restore voting rights.^[63]

1998

• People inUtah with a felony conviction are prohibited from voting while serving their sentence. People with a felony conviction may vote after release from prison, if they were convicted in Utah. If they were convicted out of state, their rights are not restored due to the wording of the law.^[66]

2000

• Voters in United States territories, includingAmerican Samoa,Guam,Puerto Rico, and theUnited States Virgin Islands are ruled ineligible to vote in presidential elections.^[11]
• Delaware ends lifetime disenfranchisement for people with felony convictions for most offenses but institutes a five-year waiting period.^[66]

2001

• New Mexico ends lifetime disenfranchisement for people with a felony conviction.^[63]

2005

• Iowa restores the voting rights of felons who completed their prison sentences.^[63]
• Nebraska ends lifetime disenfranchisement of people with felonies but adds a five-year waiting period.^[66]

2006

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was extended for the fourth time by PresidentGeorge W. Bush, being the second extension of 25 years.^[68]
• Utah changes wording of their law and restores voting rights to all people who have completed their prison sentence for a felony.^[66]
• Rhode Island restores voting rights for people serving probation or parole for felonies.^[63]

2007

• Florida restores voting rights for most non-violent people with felony convictions.^[63]

2009

• Washington restores a person's right to vote if they have completed their sentences for a felony conviction.^[69]

2010

• Voting rights in New Jersey are restored to individuals serving probation and parole for felonies.^[63]

2011

• Florida changes their felony voting rules; felons must wait five years after sentencing and apply for their right to vote again.^[63]
• Iowa reverses their rule allowing felons who have completed their sentences to vote.^[63]
• Texas passes one of the most restrictivevoter ID laws in the country, but it is blocked by the courts.^[34]

2013

• Supreme Court ruled in the 5–4Shelby County v. Holder decision that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Section 4(b) stated that if states or local governments want to change their voting laws, they must appeal to the Attorney General.^[70]
• Delaware waives the five-year waiting period for voters with a felony conviction.^[69]
• North Dakota passes House Bill 1332 which was targeted at restricting Native American voters. Any voter without a permanent address is no longer eligible to vote.^[71]

2016

• California allows prisoners in county jail to vote.^[69]
• Maryland restores voting rights to felons after they have served their term in prison.^[69]

2017

• Alabama publishes a list of crimes that can lead to disqualification of the right to vote.^[69]
• Wyoming restores the voting rights of non-violent felons.^[69]

2018

• The residential address law in North Dakota is upheld by the United States Supreme Court.^[32]
• Florida voting rights for people with a felony conviction is restored with some additional requirements needed in some cases.^[69]
• People with a felony conviction inLouisiana who have not been incarcerated for five years (inclusive of probation or parole) are able to vote.^[63]
• New York allows parolees to vote.^[69]

2019

• People convicted of a felony may vote in Nevada after release from prison.^[69]
• Citizens on parole may vote in Colorado.^[69]
• People convicted of a felony may vote in Oklahoma after serving their full sentence, including parole and other types of probation.^[69]

2020

• California restores voting rights to citizens servingparole.^[69]
• Washington, D.C. passes a law to allow incarcerated felons to vote.^[69]
• People with a felony conviction have their right to vote in Iowa restored with some restrictions and each potential voter must have completed their sentence.^[69]
• People with a felony conviction in New Jersey can vote after release from prison; citizens on parole or probation can also vote.^[69]
• North Dakota reaches an agreement with theSpirit Lake Nation and theStanding Rock Sioux to recognize tribal address as valid for voting purposes.^[72]

2021

• The Supreme Court's ruling onBrnovich v. Democratic National Committee removes most remaining sections of the Voting Rights Act, except for redistricting rules and bans of egregious discrimination.^[73][74]
• Texas enacts sweeping legislation that further tightens state election laws and constrains local control of elections by limiting counties’ ability to expand voting options.^[75]

• Ballot access
• Civil Rights Act of 1960
• Felony disenfranchisement in the United States
• List of suffragists and suffragettes
• Lodge Bill
• Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States
• Women's poll tax repeal movement

• Christen, Morgan (2019)."Alaska Native Women's Long Road to Suffrage"(PDF).Western Legal History.30 (1):89–100.
• Cole, Terrence M. (November 1992)."Jim Crow in Alaska: The Passage of the Alaska Equal Rights Act".Western Historical Quarterly.23 (4):429–449.doi:10.2307/970301.JSTOR 970301.S2CID 163528642.
• Easton, Patricia O'Keefe (Fall 1983)."Woman Suffrage in South Dakota: The Final Decade".South Dakota History.13 (3):206–226 – via South Dakota State Historical Society.
• Engerman, Stanley L.; Sokoloff, Kenneth L. (February 2005)."The Evolution of Suffrage Institutions in the New World"(PDF).Yale Workshops and Seminars.
• Harper, Ida Husted (1922).The History of Woman Suffrage. New York: J.J. Little & Ives Company.
• Schroedel, Jean; Aslanian, Artour (2015)."Native American Vote Suppression: The Case of South Dakota".Race, Gender & Class.22 (1–2):308–323.JSTOR 26505340.
• Tucker, James Thomas; Landreth, Natalie A.; Lynch, Erin Dougherty (2017)."'Why Should I Go Vote Without Understanding What I Am Going to Vote For?' The Impact of First Generation Voting Barriers on Alaska Natives".Michigan Journal of Race and Law.22 (2):327–382.doi:10.36643/mjrl.22.2.why.S2CID 149117802.

• U.S. Voting Rights Infoplease
• U.S. Voting Rights Timeline Northern California Citizenship Project

• History of African-American civil rights
• United States constitutional law
• History of voting rights in the United States
• United States nationality law
• United States history timelines
• Voting in the United States
• Women's suffrage in the United States

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