The 23rd, 24th, and 26th

What children learn in Level 83

• Washington, D.C. isn't a state. Electoral votes for president went only to states, so people there couldn't vote for president. The 23rd Amendment, in 1961, changed that.
• Washington, D.C. now has 3 electoral votes. Its people still have no voting member of Congress, and people still discuss whether that's fair.
• A poll tax was money you had to pay in order to vote. It kept out many poor citizens, and many Black citizens. The 24th Amendment, in 1964, banned poll taxes in federal elections. Two years later, the Supreme Court ended them in state elections too.
• Georgia didn't wait for the amendment. Under Governor Ellis Arnall, Georgia ended its poll tax in 1945.
• For most of American history, the usual voting age was 21. But 18-year-olds were drafted and sent to the Vietnam War. People said, old enough to fight, old enough to vote. The 26th Amendment, in 1971, set the voting age at 18. It took about 100 days to ratify, the fastest ever.
• Georgia was ahead of the country here too. In 1943, during World War II, it became the first state to let 18-year-olds vote.
• Put them together, and you can see the story of American voting: the circle keeps getting wider. In a few years, it will include you.