Kyle City Limits
by BRENDA STEWART
Two hundred and twenty years ago, when all those land-owning white men wrote the Constitution, they figured that they were the only ones bright enough to make decisions concerning their fellow countrymen. Christian white men of pure European ancestry, to be specific. Which empowered about five percent of the population with the right to vote in the election of 1800.
It hasn’t been that long ago that black men were given that right. Well, in theory. Then those uppity women “overcame.” Luckily, somehow, gay people flew under the radar. God knows that since they still won’t let them marry, or serve in the military or even give blood, I’m sure they’re none too happy with missing the opportunity to suppress them in the voting booth. And then you guys go and create the Log Cabin Republicans. That’s a head-scratcher.
All this is to say, it’s easy to take the right to vote for granted because, to most of us, it’s always been a given. We’ve been guilted into it. Conveniently forgot about it. Scoffed that our vote really didn’t count. Said we didn’t have enough time. Swore that they were all crooks.
Folks lost their life, liberty and happiness in pursuit of equal rights for all Americans in the voting booth. Don’t take it for granted.
A very brief and general timeline of voting rights in the United States:
• 1790 – Only white male property-owners have the right to vote.
• 1810 – Last religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated.
• 1850 – Property ownership requirements eliminated and almost all white males could vote.
• 1855 – First literacy test adopted (which kept those pesky Irish-Catholic immigrants at bay).
• 1866 – 14th Amendment changed former slave status from 3/5 of a person to whole person.
• 1870 – 15th Amendment is passed giving former slaves and adult male citizens of any race the right to vote.
• 1889 – First poll tax adopted (to disenfranchise many blacks and poor whites).
• 1913 – 17th Amendment calls for members of the U.S. Senate to be elected directly by the people rather than by State Legislatures.
• 1915 – Literacy tests for federal elections outlawed.
• 1920 – 19th Amendment guarantees women’s suffrage (after 72 years of being beaten and raped, losing their children through forced divorce, jailed and being force-fed during hunger strikes to be granted this right).
• 1924 – Native Americans receive the right to vote in federal elections. But like Blacks, Latinos and Asians, the same violence and intimidation was used to keep them from the polls.
• 1944 – “White primaries” outlawed
• 1957 – Civil Rights Act passed
• 1960 – Court outlaws gerrymandering (rearrangement of voting districts so as to favor the party in power). Tom DeLay was absent this day in U.S. History class.
• 1964 – Supreme Court eliminates the poll taxes in federal elections.
• 1965 – Voting Rights Act passed outlawing literacy tests, voter registration discrimination and English fluency requirements.
• 1970 – 26th Amendment sets the minimum voting age at 18 (what the heck, if you’re old enough to fight and die for your country...).
• 1975 – Ban on literacy tests made permanent.
• 1990 – Americans with Disabilities Act was passed guaranteeing access to all Americans.
So, vote. Regardless, this is our only voice. And it does matter. You’ve got two more days of early voting (in which you can vote at any polling place in the county) or you can wait until next Tuesday, November 2, and vote in your specific precinct (listed on your voter registration card). See you at the polls.
