Lesson 20: How Has the Right to Vote Been Expanded since the Adoption of the Constitution?
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Harper v. Virginia (1966)
Facts of the case:
Annie E. Harper, a resident of Virginia, filed suit alleging that the state's poll tax was unconstitutional. After a three-judge district court dismissed the complaint, the case went to the Supreme Court. This case was decided together with Butts v. Harrison.
Case Question:
Did the Virginia poll tax violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Case Conclusion:
In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court held that making voter affluence an electoral standard violated the Equal Protection Clause. The Court found that wealth or fee-paying had no relation to voting qualifications. The Court also noted that the Equal Protection Clause was not "shackled to the political theory of a particular era" and that notions of what constituted equal treatment under the clause were subject to change.
Citation:
The Oyez Project, Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966)
Link to case: http://oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1965/1965_48
