Which amendment, ratified in 1964, banned poll taxes in federal elections?

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

Answer: (C)

The main idea is recognizing how voting barriers were removed through constitutional change. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, bans poll taxes in federal elections, eliminating a financial hurdle that had effectively disenfranchised many low-income voters and disproportionately affected Black citizens during the Civil Rights era. This amendment directly addressed the practice of requiring payment to vote in federal races, ensuring that voting rights could not be conditioned on paying a tax. The other amendments listed deal with different voting issues—such as granting women the vote, lowering the voting age, or prohibiting racial discrimination in voting—but they do not ban poll taxes in federal elections. (For broader context, poll taxes were later struck down in state elections by a Supreme Court ruling in 1966.)