Who Should Be Able to Vote? Voting Requirements Past, Present, and Future

This resource is an Inquiry Pack to accompany the Suffrage Timeline on LegalTimelines.org, which explores the history of voting rights in the United States, from its early influences to constitutional amendments and landmark Supreme Court cases.

Built around primary sources from the Library of Congress and other collections, this Inquiry Pack facilitates a deep dive into an important aspect of the history of suffrage and voting rights in the United States.

Each Inquiry Pack includes a background reading, several primary sources (documents, articles, images), discussion questions about the sources, an inquiry question, and an inquiry extension question.

This pack includes the following components:

• Introduction: Voting Requirements Past, Present, and Future
• State Voting Laws: Past
• State Voting Laws: Present
• Federal Voting Laws: Past
• Federal Voting Laws: Present
• Inquiry Question: In the future, what, if anything, should be required in order to vote?
• Inquiry Extension Question: Should the age limit for voters be different from what it is now? Why or why not?
• Inquiry Question Graphic Organizer