Which amendment eliminated poll taxes in federal elections?

• A. The Twenty-Third Amendment
• B. The Twenty-First Amendment
• C. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment
• D. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Answer: (D)

Poll taxes were a barrier to voting, because they charged a fee to cast a ballot. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment, ratified in 1964, makes it illegal to require any poll tax as a condition for voting in federal elections, so it directly removes this barrier for voting in presidential and congressional elections. The other amendments listed don’t address ballot access: the Twenty-Third Amendment concerns presidential electors for Washington, D.C.; the Twenty-First Amendment repealed Prohibition; and the Twenty-Fifth deals with presidential succession and disability. (For context, later court rulings extended protections against poll taxes to state elections as well, but this amendment is the one that eliminates poll taxes in federal elections.)