Ratified January 23, 1964
Bans poll taxes — fees charged to vote — in federal elections. These taxes had been used for decades, mostly in Southern states, to disenfranchise poor and Black voters, working around the 15th Amendment's race-neutral wording. A year later the Supreme Court extended the ban to state elections too.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.