Elections & Voting

One of the most important rights of American citizens is the franchise the right to vote. Originally under the Constitution, only white male citizens over the age of 21 were eligible to vote. This shameful injustice has been corrected and voting rights have been extended several times over the course of our history. Today, citizens over the age of 18 cannot be denied the right to vote, regardless of race, religion, sex, disability, or sexual orientation. However, in every state except North Dakota, citizens must register to vote, and laws regarding the registration process vary by state. The path to full voting rights for all American citizens was long and often challenging. The franchise was first extended to African Americans under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, passed during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. These guaranteed that all male citizens, regardless of their race, would receive equal treatment under the law and not be deprived of their rights without due process. The Fifteenth Amendment is specifically dedicated to protecting the right of all citizens to vote, regardless of their race. For practical purposes, this was not the end of the voting rights struggle for African Americans. Because of widespread discrimination in some states, including the use of poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests, African Americans were not assured full voting rights until President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Women were denied the right to vote until 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment was passed. Prior to that, women had only been able to vote in select states. Federal elections occur every two years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Every member of the House of Representatives and about one-third of the Senate is up for reelection in any given election year. A presidential election is held every fourth year. Federal elections are administered by state and local governments, although the specifics of how elections are conducted differ between the states. The Constitution and laws of the United States grant the states wide latitude in how they administer elections.

The Presidents
18th Century
1. George Washington 2. John Adams

19th Century
3. Thomas Jefferson 15. James Buchanan

4. James Madison

16. Abraham Lincoln

5. James Monroe

17. Andrew Johnson

6. John Quincy Adams

18. Ulysses S. Grant

7. Andrew Jackson

19. Rutherford B. Hayes

8. Martin Van Buren

20. James Garfield

9. William Henry Harrison

21. Chester A. Arthur

10. John Tyler

22. Grover Cleveland

11. James K. Polk

23. Benjamin Harrison

12. Zachary Taylor

24. Grover Cleveland

13. Millard Fillmore

25. William McKinley

14. Franklin Pierce

20th Century
26. Theodore Roosevelt 35. John F. Kennedy

27. William Howard Taft

36. Lyndon B. Johnson

28. Woodrow Wilson

37. Richard M. Nixon

29. Warren G. Harding

38. Gerald R. Ford

30. Calvin Coolidge

39. James Carter

31. Herbert Hoover

40. Ronald Reagan

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt

41. George H. W. Bush

33. Harry S. Truman

42. William J. Clinton

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower

21st Century
43. George W. Bush 44. Barack Obama