Early History of the Poll Tax
The Constitution of 1902 and the Byrd Machine
After the poll tax became a prerequisite for voter registration, tax collectors made no attempt to collect it, and there was no legal penalty other than disfranchisement for failure to pay it. Because payment of the tax became an essential step in winning elections, both Democratic and Republican Party officials raised money, sometimes through unethical or illegal means, to pay the poll taxes of men (and, after 1920, of women) who they believed would vote the way they desired. Democratic tax collectors and registrars made it difficult or impossible in many instances for Republicans or African Americans to pay the tax or to register or to vote.
Demise of the Poll Tax
In November 1963, Evelyn Thomas Butts, a civil rights activist from Norfolk, filed suit in federal court to have the poll tax declared unconstitutional as an undue financial burden on the franchise that violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and in March 1964 Annie E. Harper and three other people from Fairfax County filed another federal suit against the poll tax. Harper's appeal from an adverse ruling of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reached the U.S. Supreme Court before Butts's appeal, and the resulting combined cases were decided in March 1966 as Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections. The Supreme Court declared the poll tax unconstitutional. In the meantime, the 1964 ratification of the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed imposition of a poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections, and the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 made imposition of the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting a violation of federal law. Those steps in the elimination of the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting all arose from outside the political process in Virginia—a process that had made it virtually impossible for disfranchised people to attain their political objectives, even the right to vote. The Virginia Constitution of 1970 omitted authorization of the General Assembly to make payment of a poll tax a prerequisite for voting.
Time Line
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1619 - At the first meeting of the General Assembly in Jamestown, the members agree to assess each person in the colony a tax of one pound of tobacco to compensate the legislature's speaker, clerk, and sergeant at arms.
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1850–1851 - After a contentious struggle, delegates at the Virginia constitutional convention eliminate the property qualification for the right to vote, which means that all white male residents of Virginia can now vote.
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February 3, 1870 - The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting African American men the right to vote, is ratified.
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1871 - Governor Gilbert C. Walker proposes that payment of the poll tax be made a prerequisite for voting.
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1876 - Virginia's Conservative Party (which soon becomes the Democratic Party) succeeds in amending the state constitution, for the first time denying the right to vote to men who had not paid the state poll tax.
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1882 - The Readjusters (a coalition of disgruntled Democrats, Republicans, and African Americans committed to refinancing the state's public debt and preserving the new public school system) amend the Virginia state constitution to remove payment of the poll tax as a prerequisite to voting.
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1902 - Provisions of the newly passed Virginia Constitution effectively deny suffrage to most of Virginia's African American men and to about half of the white men who had voted before it was passed.
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1904 - Beginning this year, any person in Virginia who applies to register to vote must present proof that he has paid a poll tax of $1.50 for each of the three years preceding an election.
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August 1920 - Virginia women gain the right to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution becomes law.
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1938 and 1940 - Governor James H. Price proposes that the poll tax be reduced from $1.50 to $1.00, but Byrd Organization leaders in the General Assembly defeat the proposal.
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1941 - Governor James H. Price requests that the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council investigate the poll tax. The ensuing report declares the poll tax a source of political corruption that leads to block payments of poll taxes and the refusal to register African Americans. The Advisory Council refuses to print or release the report.
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November 1949 - The General Assembly reluctantly proposes a constitutional amendment to abolish the poll tax, but the Democratic Party's leadership rallies behind the poll tax, and the amendment is defeated in the November 1949 ratification referendum.
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November 1963 - Evelyn Thomas Butts, a civil rights activist from Norfolk, files suit in federal court to have the poll tax declared unconstitutional as an undue financial burden on the franchise that violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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January 23, 1964 - The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing that the right to vote in any federal election "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."
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March 1964 - Annie E. Harper and three other African American residents of Fairfax County file suit against the Virginia State Board of Elections, charging that the poll tax is unconstitutional.
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August 6, 1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, guaranteeing that no person shall be denied the right to vote based on race or color. Several special provisions impose even more stringent requirements in certain jurisdictions throughout the country, including Virginia.
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March 24, 1966 - In the case of Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the poll tax is unconstitutional.
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1970 - The Virginia Constitution of 1970 omits authorization of the General Assembly to make payment of a poll tax a prerequisite for voting.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Tarter, B. Poll Tax. (2014, July 2). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Poll_Tax.
- MLA Citation:
Tarter, Brent. "Poll Tax." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 2 Jul. 2014. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: October 8, 2009 | Last modified: July 2, 2014
Contributed by Brent Tarter, founding editor of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.