Laws against Literacy Tests

(d) For purposes of this section, it cannot be established that no state or political subdivision has used tests or devices for the purpose or effect of denying or restricting the right to vote on the basis of race or color, if (1) the incidents of such use have been minor and promptly and effectively corrected by governmental or local action. (2) the continuing effect of such incidents has been eliminated and (3) there is no reasonable likelihood that they will recur in the future. From the 1890s to the 1960s, many southern state governments held literacy tests for potential voters, ostensibly to test their literacy skills in order to vote. The first state to introduce literacy testing in the United States was Connecticut. [3] In practice, these tests were intended to disenfranchise racial minorities and others deemed problematic by the ruling party. [ref. needed] Southern lawmakers introduced literacy tests as part of the voter registration process beginning in the late 19th century. Literacy tests, as well as voting taxes, residency and property restrictions, and extrajudicial activities (violence and intimidation)[4] [best source needed] were all used to deny African Americans the right to vote. But the most formidable electoral hurdle included in the state constitution was the literacy test.

A person who wanted to register to vote had to read a section of the state constitution and explain it to the county official who processed voter registration. This employee, who has always been white, decided whether a citizen could read and write or not. After the men registered as Democratic Party voters, Windsor Republican officials claimed that the city clerk (a Democrat) swore in the men behind closed doors after expelling the Republican voter register from the room when she protested that the men did not meet the eligibility requirements. The City Clerk and the Democratic Registrar challenged this version. In an open letter published in the local newspaper, The News-Weekly, they claimed that “at no time was any trial held behind closed doors.” In addition, they claimed that two Republican officials observed the plaintiffs` reading tests without complaint. Each side characterized the other as resorting to political machinations that favored its own party. The Windsor and Hartford newspapers` coverage of the events did not capture the views of the 10 workers, particularly those who had or would soon have the right to vote. Similarly, the reports do not question the legitimacy of literacy tests. This task will be left to activists in the coming decades.

When Connecticut`s literacy test restriction was finally lifted, the change did not come out of a state referendum. Instead, civil rights activists finally succeeded in banning testing in 1970 by amending the 1965 federal election law. Windsor and other cities in the state held their first voter registration meeting on July 16, 1970, without the opportunity to take literacy tests. This “law implementing the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution” was signed 95 years after the ratification of the amendment. During these years, African Americans in the South faced enormous obstacles to voting, including voter taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They were also at risk of harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, African-American voter registration was limited, as was political power. This law was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. It banned discriminatory voting practices introduced in many Southern states after the Civil War, including literacy testing as a precondition for voting. (b) Any person who, in accordance with the instructions set forth in section 9 (b), determines that he or she possesses qualifications required by the law of the State that are not contrary to the Constitution and the laws of the United States shall be promptly registered as eligible voters. Any challenge to such registration may be made under section 9 (a) and shall not form the basis of proceedings under section 12 of this Act.

The examiner shall certify this list and, where applicable, supplements thereto at least once a month to the offices of the appropriate election officers, with copies to the Attorney General and the State Attorney General, and all lists and supplements submitted during the month shall be made available to the public on the last working day of the month. in any case not later than the forty-fifth day preceding each election. The appropriate state or local election official shall enter these names on the official voters list. Every person whose name appears on the examiner`s list is entitled and entitled to vote in the electoral district of his place of residence, unless and so long as the appropriate election officers have been notified that such person has been struck off the list in accordance with paragraph (d), provided that no person is entitled to vote under this Act; unless their names have been certified and such a list has been submitted to the offices of the appropriate election officers at least forty-five days before such election. The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Johnson on August 6, 1965, suspended literacy and other tests in counties and states that showed evidence of voter discrimination. These counties and states were also prohibited from creating new election requirements that deprived citizens of their right to vote. In addition, in the areas covered by the Act, federal auditors have replaced local officials in voter registration. The first formal literacy tests for voters were introduced in 1890. Initially, whites were generally exempt from the literacy test if they could meet other requirements that excluded blacks in practice, such as a grandfather clause or the declaration of “good character,” the testimony of which was often required only by whites, many of whom, especially most Southerners after the Civil War, opposed the right to vote for non-whites. [ref. When voting taxes, literacy tests, “grandfather clauses” and “white primaries” did not prevent blacks from registering and voting, intimidation was often work. An African-American citizen attempting to exercise his or her right to vote is often threatened with losing his or her job.

Denial of credit, threats of expulsion, and verbal abuse by white election officials also prevented black Southerners from voting. When all else failed, mob violence and even lynchings prevented blacks from entering the polls.