History of Voting Rights in the U.S.

Do you imagine all the people of America heading to their polling places to vote for General George Washington for President? Don’t. Only 6% of the population was allowed to vote for the first President.

Here’s a timeline of voting rights in the United States.

• 1776: White men who own property can vote, unless they are Catholic, Jewish, or Quakers.
• 1856: All white men over 21 are allowed to vote.
• 1870: All men are allowed to vote.
• 1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act is the first of several acts rejecting Asians from U.S. citizenship, and preventing Asian-Americans from voting.
• 1890: Women in Wyoming are allowed to vote.
• 1920: Women are allowed to vote.
• 1924: Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans; some states also give voting rights.
• 1943: The Magnuson Act allows Chinese immigrants to vote.
• 1956: McCarran-Walter Act gives voting rights to Asian Americans excluded by the 1882 Exclusion Act.
• 1961: Residents of Washington, D.C., get the right to vote in presidential elections.
• 1965: The Voting Rights Act removes obstacles to voting for people of color.
• 1971; 18 year olds get the vote.
• 1975: Protection is added for citizens with limited English.
• 2000: A federal court rules that residents of Puerto Rico and other territories cannot vote in presidential elections.
• 2010: Half the states pass new voting restrictions.
• 2013: The Voting Act was updated by a Supreme Court decision which struck down part of Section 5, the part that required certain states to get “pre-clearance” for changes in voting regulations.
• 2016: Restrictive new voting rules pass in 17 states. Three of the laws were blocked, but 14 states kept their restrictions.
• 2018: Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wisconsin pass new restrictions.
• 2019: Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas pass new laws that made it harder to vote.

The United States has had a hard time along the path to voter equality. When will the people of Puerto Rico have the right to vote for their president?

This post was originally written in English and may be being auto-translated by Google.