In 1924, Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S

SANTA FE –In the late 1700’s the U.S. Constitution had been written to clarify the rights of the people, and the right to vote was established.. Yet it took years for amendments to the Constitution and congressional legislation to allow women, African-Americans, and Native Americans the right to vote. Later, the voting age was lowered to eighteen years old.

Written in 1787, the U.S. Constitution specified that the number of representatives for each state would be based on the size of the state’s population. However, only three-fifths of a state’s slave population would be counted when determining the number of congressional representatives elected by the state. Native Americans were not counted at all.

In 1870, African Americans received voting rights with adoption of the 15th amendment, which prohibited states from denying a citizen the right to vote because of race. They were nonetheless kept from voting by poll taxes, literacy tests, and white primaries, which consisted of whites-only voting. In the 1960’s Congress enforced this amendment and ended racial discrimination in voting rights.

Indians Given Voting Rights in 1924

In the late nineteenth century only four Western states gave voting rights to women. In 1920 qualified women were given the right to vote through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

In 1924, Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. Citizenship and the right to vote were governed by state law. In 1948, some states barred Native Americans from voting. Maine was the last to comply with the Indian Citizenship Act. New Mexico did not extend to Native Americans the right to vote until 1962.

Despite the fact that states did impose severe restrictions on the voting rights of Indians, U.S. Rep. Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., in 1965, said, “Indians have the right to vote, and there never has been any great attempt to prevent them from registering and voting. Nevertheless, few Indians do participate in our elections.”

In 1971, the 26th Amendment made all eighteen-year-olds eligible to vote. Previous to this amendment the age was 21 in the majority of the states.

“Indians have the right to vote, and there never has been any great attempt to prevent them from registering and voting. Nevertheless, few Indians do participate in our elections.”
—Rep. Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., 1965

Copyright © IAIA CHRONICLE 2004