The 24th Amendment Fails the People
The 24th amendment of the constitution to the United States of America needs to be changed. As of 2016, the 24th amendment states that in any federal election, poll taxes are not allowed to be given. The 24th Amendment should state that in all elections no one is allowed to receive a poll tax because the constitution states that anyone over the age of 18 can vote, no matter what, and it is technically against the 14th amendment to have anyone's rights from the constitution taken away. A poll tax is something that is necessary to vote. Some poll taxes that are still present today would be photo IDs and certain fines for people who have committed felonies. Poll taxes are said to be a good thing because
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This amendment was originally written because poll taxes were being charged and many African American people could not pay this fine. Creating poll taxes was a way for governments to discriminate against a group of people. If they didn’t want certain people to vote all they had to do was figure out what they can’t pay or give, and then force people to give that item so they won’t be able to vote. Then, on January 23, 1964, the 24th amendment was signed and released. The final vote on whether the 24th amendment should be released or not was 295 to 86. The 24th amendment states that poll taxes are not allowed to be given at federal elections, meaning that the amendment is only applied when people are voting for our country’s president or vice president. So technically people can still charge you a poll tax, just not in federal elections. This is exactly what happened to Anne E. …show more content…
Harper did not have the money, and thought of the situation as unfair. Since the 24th amendment states that poll taxes are not allowed to be given in federal elections, technically that means that Virginia could get away with forcing Harper to pay a poll tax, unless there was another amendment. The 14th Amendment states that every citizen's rights will be protected, and that everyone has equal protection of the law. In the Constitution, it is written that anyone who is a citizen of the United States, and is over the age of 18, may vote. Harper argued in court that her rights were being violated, and that having to pay a poll tax was against the 14th amendment. She won her case in a six to three decision. Obviously if Harper had been able to use the 24th amendment to defend herself, the trial would have gone a lot faster. It ends up being very ironic that she was forced to pay a poll tax, but could not use the amendment disallowing poll