Which voting restriction required a payment to vote?

Which voting restriction required a payment to vote?

• A. Poll Tax
• B. Grandfather Clause
• C. Literacy Test
• D. 13th Amendment

Answer: (A)

This question focuses on a method used to limit who could vote by making them pay a fee. The restriction that required a payment to vote is a poll tax. By forcing voters to hand over money before casting a ballot, poll taxes kept many poor people from voting, and they were used in the Southern states during the Jim Crow era to suppress African American participation as well as poor white voters. Other options involve different ideas: a grandfather clause allowed people to vote if their ancestors had voted before a certain date, which isn’t about paying to vote; literacy tests assessed reading or writing ability, which is about skill rather than money; the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, which isn’t a voting-pay restriction at all. Poll taxes were eventually eliminated, with federal law and court rulings banning them in practice, reinforcing that voting access should not depend on wealth.

This question focuses on a method used to limit who could vote by making them pay a fee. The restriction that required a payment to vote is a poll tax. By forcing voters to hand over money before casting a ballot, poll taxes kept many poor people from voting, and they were used in the Southern states during the Jim Crow era to suppress African American participation as well as poor white voters.

Other options involve different ideas: a grandfather clause allowed people to vote if their ancestors had voted before a certain date, which isn’t about paying to vote; literacy tests assessed reading or writing ability, which is about skill rather than money; the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, which isn’t a voting-pay restriction at all. Poll taxes were eventually eliminated, with federal law and court rulings banning them in practice, reinforcing that voting access should not depend on wealth.