-Bar voter ID, poll taxes, literacy tests, etc
Yesterday I considered an alternative 24th Amendment that banned literacy tests instead of poll taxes, and I concluded that, unlike the real 24th Amendment, an amendment to ban literacy tests would
not have been ratified. This is because the four states of
Alaska,
Arizona,
Montana and
South Dakota would have been almost as opposed to an amendment banning literacy tests as the South. The threat of Native American political power at a local level – and as the 1992 and 1996 elections show as a potential balance of power in a statewide election – would have been viewed too dangerous by rulers of those states. That would mean a bloc of sixteen states (32 percent) intractably opposed, which would be enough to preclude ratification, and I am note sure that some other states which did ratify the actual 24th Amendment would not have taken more persuasion to ratify an amendment banning literacy tests.
