Voting Rights
The U.S. Constitution refers to the election of members of Congress and of the President, but the document adopted in 1787 does not define who may cast those votes. Amendments to the Constitution extended the right to vote in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The 15th Amendment (1870) extended voting rights to men of all races. The 19th Amendment (1920) prohibited the states from denying the vote on the basis of sex. The 24th Amendment (1964) sought to remove barriers to voting by prohibiting a poll tax. And the Voting Rights Act of 1965 secured voting rights for adult citizens of all races and genders in the form of federal laws that enforced the amendments.
The National Archives supports Executive Order 14019, which promotes access to voting.
Visit Vote.gov for more information.
Presidential Elections & Inaugurations Records in the National Archives and Presidential Libraries document elections and inaugurations through history.
Black Americans and the Vote This research portal highlights National Archives holdings that relate to the long struggle for equality in voting rights.
Women's Rights: Suffrage Discover an array of records related to the long quest for women to gain the vote as well as education resources, articles, and blog posts.
Exhibits
Records of Rights presents records in the National Archives that document the ongoing struggle of Americans to define, attain, and protect their rights
Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote highlights the struggle of diverse activists throughout U.S. history to secure voting rights for all American women.
Notable Documents
- Tally of Electoral Votes (1801)
- Petition for Universal Suffrage (1866)
- 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870)
- 1912 Electoral Vote Tally (1913)
- 17th Amendment, Direct Election of Senators (1913)
- 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (1920)
- Election Certificate of Hattie Caraway (1932)
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Congress and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (multiple documents)
Educator Resources
- Civics for All of US: Civic Literacy and Engagement
- DocsTeach
- John F. Kennedy Library Curricular Resources
- Reagan Library Education Blog
Blog Posts
- National Archives News: National Archives Makes Voting Happen
- JFK Library Archives: Now Digitized: Herbert Tucker’s Black Voter Outreach in JFK’s Campaigns
- Pieces of History: “Elections” tag
- Reagan Library Education Blog: History of the Voting Rights Act series
- Rediscovering Black History: Portal Spotlight: Voting Rights
- Rediscovering Black History: 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Rediscovering Black History: “Voting” tag
- Text Message: The War After the War: The American Indian Fight for the Vote After WWII
- Text Message: The Presidential Election of 1972: Analysis of Soviet Bloc Opinion
- Text Message: Inviting the World to Watch the Election of 1960
- Text Message: Enforcing the Voting Rights Act
- Unwritten Record: Images of the Week: Vote, Voting, Voted!
Selected Records in the National Archives Catalog
- Voting Rights Records in the National Archives at College Park
- Laws and Court Cases
- Freedom Summer
- Voting Rights Icons
- Voting Rights Organizations
- Records Relating to Participation in the Voting Rights Program, 1965–67
- Voting Rights Program Records, 1965–83
- Civil Rights Litigation Case files: Catalog IDs 1882794, 731115, 731476, 603432
Video Resources
- The Vote (1963)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Radio Address on the Right to Vote
- The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote
- Women Suffragists and the Men Who Supported Them: The Suffragents
- 100th Anniversary of Women Winning the Vote: Reflections on the 2020 Centennial
- Women and the Vote: Opposition to Women’s Equality, from Suffrage to the ERA
- Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All
- African American Women in the Suffrage Movement and the Battle for the Vote
- Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait? Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the Right to Vote
- Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
- Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 1920–2020
- Working for Suffrage: How Class and Race Shaped the U.S. Suffrage Movement
- Researcher Talk: Buying the Vote: A History of Campaign Finance Reform
What are people asking on History Hub about Voting Rights?
- Why would a person be denied Voting Rights?
- Seeking records of Black suffrage prior to 1830 in US
- Did the 19th Amendment give voting rights to all women?
- Seeking information on women's suffrage
- Where can I learn more about the Universal Suffrage Petition of 1866?
- Where can I find data on Voting Age Population by Congressional District?
