Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Amendment XXIV (the Twenty-fourth Amendment) of the United States Constitution prevents any rights from being abridged due to failure to pay poll tax or other tax. Thirteen years after it was proposed and nearly two years after the measure had been passed by the United States Senate 77-16, the 24th Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1964. Poll taxes had been enacted in eleven Southern states after Reconstruction as a measure to prevent poor black people from voting. At the time of this amendment's passage, only five states still retained a poll tax. The full text of this amendment follows: 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 poll tax or other tax. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation 23rd Amendment Amendments United States Constitution 25th Amendment This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.