Early U.S. – (most states) white male adult property owners

 

Five constitutional amendments have limited restrictions to the right to vote, though none have added a general right to vote.

• 15th Amendment (1870) – right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

• 19th Amendment (1920) – right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex

• 23rd Amendment (1961) – residents of the District of Columbia can vote for the President and Vice President

• 24th Amendment (1964) – voting in federal elections shall not be denied or abridged by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

• 26th Amendment (1971) – right to vote of U.S. citizens, who are at least eighteen years of age, shall not be denied or abridged on account of age.

 

2019 Colorado House Bill 19-1278 – “A person preregistered … who is seventeen years of age on the date of a primary election or presidential primary election and who will be eighteen years of age on the date of the next general election is entitled to vote in the primary election or presidential primary election.” About 1/3 of the states allow almost-18-year-olds to vote in a primary election. 

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Colorado Taking Away the Right to Vote

Based on Martin Niemöller’s poem, “First they came for the Communists…”

 

First they came for the almost-18-year-old voters 

And I did not speak out
Because I was older than 18

 

Then they came for voters in county commissioner elections
And I did not speak out
Because I was not in the district

And my neighbor did not speak out

Because his party’s voters got to vote

And the lawyers didn’t fight it

Because they were looking the other way

And wanted a big fee to fight it

 

Then they came for voters in legislative elections

And eventually this affected everyone, including me,

But we had forgotten how to speak out

And our right to vote eroded ever more.