Which amendment prohibits poll taxes in federal elections?

• A. 19th Amendment
• B. 23rd Amendment
• C. 24th Amendment
• D. 15th Amendment

Answer: (C)

Poll taxes blocked people from voting by making them pay to cast a ballot, so the constitutional fix was to remove that barrier in federal elections. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, says that the right to vote in any primary or other election for President, Vice President, or Representatives in Congress shall not be denied or abridged by failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. In short, wealth or the ability to pay cannot keep someone from voting in federal elections.

The other amendments address who can vote or where, but not the specific prohibition on poll taxes in federal elections: the 19th Amendment extends suffrage to women; the 23rd Amendment gives DC residents electoral votes for president; the 15th Amendment prohibits denying the vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. For broader context, later court rulings also limited poll taxes in state elections, but the explicit federal prohibition is in the 24th Amendment.