What is the history behind the right to vote in the US?

A fun read for you to learn about the right to vote in the US would be my historical romance novel, "His Fiery Equal, tale of a catskinner's daughter." It covers voting history acurately with a truckload of farm women who vote for the first time in their lives in the last state that let women vote - Tennessee. In 1916, 14 voters went to the polls in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. In 1920, 93 people voted there! Women, of course increased that number dramatically. I did heavy research to write accurate history, then colored it up with a heroine who, too young to vote herself, ran all over the rural area near Tellico and gathered farm women in a "borrowed" 1914 Peerless stake-body truck and ushered them in to the polls amidst fanfare and a hilarious chase. You can buy the book at Amazon.com . While looking at the books there, read the five-star comment written about it by Matt Longcore of Norwalk Community College. Enjoy! And learn!

Adora Mitchell Bayles

The Judge Says:

The issue of voting rights in the United States has been contentious over the country's history. Eligibility to vote in the U.S. is determined by both Federal and state law. Currently, only citizens can vote in U.S. elections (although this has not always been the case). Who is (or who can become) a citizen is governed on a national basis by Federal law. Each state, however, determines which citizens have the right to vote in that state. But over time national laws in the form of Constitutional amendments and Federal legislation such as the Voting Rights Act have imposed some national restrictions and standards on state-level voting laws.[1]

There have been several similar, but separate movements to extend voting rights to groups of people who had been disenfranchised through a variety of legal (and sometimes extra-legal) means.

At least four of the fifteen post-Civil War Constitutional amendments were ratified specifically to extend voting rights to different groups of citizens. These extensions state that voting rights cannot be denied or abridged based on

• "Race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (15th Amendment, 1870)
• "On account of sex" (19th Amendment, 1920)
• "By reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" (24th Amendment, 1964)
• "Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age" (26th Amendment, 1971).

In addition, the 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of United States Senators.

The "right to vote" is explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution in the above referenced Amendments, but only in reference to the fact that the franchise cannot be denied or abridged based solely on the aforementioned qualifications.

The "right to vote" may be denied for other reasons. For example, some states have precluded convicted felons from voting. According to the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the Electoral College."[2]

A state may choose to fill an office by means other than an election. For example, upon death or resignation of a legislator, the state may allow the affiliated political party to choose a replacement to hold office until the next scheduled election. Such an appointment is often affirmed by the governor.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_States