Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

Are you voting this year? If you aren’t, you should read this. Voting is important because in the past, people under 21 years of age, poor white men, women, Blacks, and American Indians were not allowed to vote. In 1870, the 15th amendment was passed, saying that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” But, there were still limits. Formerly enslaved Black men could still not vote, and the amendments were NOT enforced. There were still voting laws that used literacy tests, poll taxes, and the grandfather clause. Theoretically, these laws applied to everyone since they didn’t mention race. But, in reality, they were used to keep Black people from voting. The laws made voting virtually impossible for Blacks. The literacy test was one type of obstacle. Registration workers chose the questions and could decide whether the answers were right or wrong. The goal was always for certain voters to fail. One example of a literacy test is when people asked voters to guess the correct number of jelly beans in a jar to be able to vote. It took hundreds of years for all people to be able to vote in our country. You should share your voice by voting.

Sincerely,

Charlotte