LibGuides: Voting and Election Guide: Constitutional Amendments & Elections

Constitutional Amendments & Elections

The Constitution created the formal structure of the federal government, and it established the original rules governing national elections. Since its ratification, however, it has been amended numerous times in ways that fundamentally affect national elections. Perhaps the most significant amendments were those that extended the right to vote to populations such as women, African Americans, and people aged 18-21. Other amendments altered the mechanisms by which senators are elected and limited the president to two terms.

12th Amendment: Changes to the Electoral College
Ratified in 1804, the 12th Amendment changed the Electoral College system by requiring Electors to nominate separate presidential and vice presidential candidates. Previously the two candidates who received the most Electoral votes were named president and vice president, respectively, even if they were from different parties.
15th Amendment: Racial Equality in Voting
Ratified in 1870, the 15th Amendment outlawed any policies designed to deny the right to vote to former slaves and their descendants. Along with the 13th and 14th Amendments, the 15th Amendment was one of the "Reconstruction Amendments" ratified in the years following the Civil War.
17th Amendment: Election of U.S. Senators
Ratified in 1913 during the Progressive Era, the 17th Amendment provided for direct election of U.S. senators.
19th Amendment: Women's Right to Vote
Ratified in 1920, the 19th Amendment recognized the right of women to vote, just months prior to the 1920 presidential election.
22nd Amendment: Presidential Term Limits
Ratified in 1951, the 22nd Amendment limits the president to a maximum of two 4-year terms. This amendment was approved following the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. (He died in office in 1945.)
24th Amendment: Abolition of Poll Taxes
Ratified in 1964 as an element of the Civil Rights Movement, the 24th Amendment prohibited states from requiring residents to pay a tax or fee in order to vote in national elections. Several southern states had established a poll tax to prevent Black and low-income White people from voting, thereby circumventing the 14th and 15th Amendments. Two years later the Supreme Court extended this prohibition to all elections.
26th Amendment: Change in Voting Age
Ratified in 1971, the 26th Amendment lowered the legal voting age from 21 to 18. As a result, most college students are now legally eligible to vote. The first presidential election in which 18-21-year-olds could vote was 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon was reelected in a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern, despite McGovern's popularity among young voters.