Voter Suppression Laws. History Term Paper Assignment (Term Paper Sample)

Voter Suppression Laws
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Voter Suppression Laws
Voting is considered an indispensible part of the democratic system of governance. This role is fundamental as it gives the citizens an opportunity to choose their own government. So critical is this function that it is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 21 states that “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives”. Today, governments around the world and their agencies are concerned and greatly lobby for high voter turnout during elections. However, this has not been always the case in the past. Historically, various laws have been enacted to deny sections of the citizens their right to vote essentially denying them representation as discussed below.
One of the most infamous examples of voter suppression is the Jim Crow laws in the US. The laws were enforced to propagate racial segregation and remained in place until 1965 (Acharya, Blackwell & Sen, 2015). To suppress the African Americans and poor whites from voting, various punitive measures including poll taxes were put in place. Besides, participating in the electoral process required literacy and comprehension tests, as well as requirements on residency records (Acharya, Blackwell & Sen, 2015).