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From barriers to breakthroughs: How voting rights have evolved over America's 250-year history
The story traces 250 years of gains and setbacks, and the Brennan Center says state legislatures enacted at least 32 restrictive voting laws in 2025.
- As America approaches its 250th anniversary, voting rights continue to evolve through a centuries-long cycle of expansion and contraction. Lisa Kathleen Graddy, a curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, explains that the initial restricted franchise triggered an ongoing quest for universal voting access.
- Early 20th-century activists utilized spectacle, including hurdy-gurdies and carrier pigeons, to campaign for suffrage around 1912. Women became the first to picket the White House in 1917, enduring force-feeding during hunger strikes until their release in November of that year.
- Constitutional amendments progressively broadened the electorate, beginning with the 15th Amendment in 1870 protecting Black men's voting rights and the 19th in 1920 barring denial based on sex. Congress further secured protections through the 24th Amendment in 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
- Portia Haskins challenged Virginia's discriminatory dual voter registration system, which persisted after federal poll tax bans. Her legal fight, combined with a 1966 Supreme Court ruling, ultimately ended poll taxes across all levels of government.
- States enacted at least 32 restrictive voting laws in 2025, with critics warning that current trends resemble "Jim Crow 2.0." Haskins emphasized the need for vigilance, noting that voting rights remain contested as America's story continues to unfold.
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