Law Commons^™

The Vote Is Precious, Melissa A. Logan

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

This Note traces the history of the voter suppression in the United States, connecting present-day efforts to restrict access to the polls to harmful practices of the past. After demonstrating that the United States has never truly fulfilled the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment—that no citizen shall be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude—I argue that the federal government must take steps to protect voters from racial discrimination. I propose that Congress can use the power bestowed to it under the Elections Clause to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections …