Which amendment prohibits denying the right to vote based on race?

• A. 24th Amendment
• B. 15th Amendment
• C. 19th Amendment
• D. 26th Amendment

Answer: (B)

The Fifteenth Amendment explicitly bars denying the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Ratified in 1870 during Reconstruction, it was meant to protect Black men after emancipation by preventing states from restricting their right to vote on racial grounds. In practice, many barriers still occurred and were later challenged and addressed through civil rights actions and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. By contrast, the amendment that bans poll taxes is focused on a different voting barrier, the one prohibiting sex-based restrictions is about women’s suffrage, and the amendment lowering the voting age to 18 targets age, not race.