Literacy/Poll Tests

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Poll tests were a way to prevent African Americans from voting after the 15th Amendment (1870) guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race. These tests were part of a broader system of voter suppression that also included intimidation, violence, and discriminatory practices. They were ultimately outlawed 95 years later by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

These examples highlight how discriminatory policies used complicated or subjective questions to exclude African Americans from participating in the democratic process.

Voting poll tests, also known as literacy tests or voter qualification tests, were used during the Jim Crow era in the United States to disenfranchise Black voters, particularly in Southern states. These tests were often intentionally confusing and difficult, and were administered in a way designed to ensure that Black people failed them, even when they were educated.Here are some examples of the types of questions and tasks included in voting poll tests:

This test was 68 questions long, covering various topics such as the Constitution, state laws, and general knowledge. Here are a few examples of questions:

• How many members are there in the U.S. Senate?
• In what year did the U.S. Constitution come into effect?
• What is the capital of your state?
• Who is the current president of the United States?

Even though some of these questions seem basic, the questions were often phrased in tricky ways, and many white voters were given easier versions or not required to take the test at all.

Louisiana’s test was infamous for its ambiguity and near impossibility to pass. It consisted of 30 questions, to be completed in 10 minutes. A single wrong answer resulted in failure. Some sample questions:

• Circle the first letter of the alphabet in this line.
• Print the word “vote” upside-down but in correct order.
• Spell backwards, forwards.
• In the space below, draw three circles, one inside the other.
• Write every other word in this first line and print every third word in the same line, but capitalize the fifth word that you write.

These questions were designed to confuse and create arbitrary failures.

Mississippi’s tests were designed to evaluate not only literacy but also the "understanding" of state laws, often in ways that made passing nearly impossible:

• Read and interpret Section 232 of the Mississippi Constitution, which covers taxation and property rights.
• Who appoints the judges of the Supreme Court?
• Name all the rights guaranteed by the first amendment.

In addition to these questions, voters might be asked to read a passage of the state constitution or answer questions about obscure legal matters. The interpretation was left to the discretion of white poll workers, making it nearly impossible for Black voters to pass.

When Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country. Section 4(a) of the Act established a formula to identify those areas and to provide for more stringent remedies where appropriate. The first of these targeted remedies was a five-year suspension of "a test or device," such as a literacy test as a prerequisite to register to vote. The second was the requirement for review, under Section 5, of any change affecting voting made by a covered area either by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or by the Attorney General. The third was the ability of the Attorney General to certify that specified jurisdictions also required the appointment of federal examiners. These examiners would prepare and forward lists of persons qualified to vote. The final remedy under the special provisions is the authority of the Attorney General to send federal observers to those jurisdictions that have been certified for federal examiners.

Section 4 also contains several other provisions, such as Section 4(e) and Section 4(f), that guarantee the right to register and vote to those with limited English proficiency. Section 4(e) provides that the right to register and vote may not be denied to those individuals who have completed the sixth grade in a public school, such as those in Puerto Rico, where the predominant classroom language is a language other than English. In Section 4(f), the Act addresses the ability of those persons who are members of language minority groups identified in Section 4(f)(2), to register and vote as well as to get information relating to the electoral process in a manner that will ensure their meaningful participation in the electoral process.