In 1959, I paid my first poll tax in order to qualify to vote for one year. To vote at that time in Arkansas, a person had to be 21 years old and show a receipt of poll-tax payment. I had just turned 21, and this poll tax cost me $1.08. When election time came, I proudly presented my receipt and voted for the first time.
My father encouraged me to vote, and he had always voted while I was growing up. Even though he struggled to support our large family on his minimum-wage salary, he always reserved a dollar each year to pay his poll tax. One dollar in 1959 would be worth $10.34 in 2024.
Paying this poll tax was a sacrifice for him, but he thought this was his patriotic duty and he enjoyed voting.
As a kid, I noticed the courthouse officials made extra efforts to shake my dad's hand, but it took me years to understand that those elected officials kept up with who did and who didn't pay a poll tax. They knew Joe Lancaster paid the poll tax before every election and would vote.
So, when I was 21, I thought, "Wow, now I will be like Dad and be a patriot, as well as getting a handshake and even a pat on the back by important people at the Grant County Courthouse."
This poll tax was signed by the Grant County sheriff and had a state serial number so it looked official. And in the upper right corner of the receipt was a blank labeled "Color," and penciled in for me was "W." I wonder why they wanted to know my color. And why did it cost me a dollar to vote?
Perhaps I didn't know how deeply racism was a part of Southern culture. I had gone to a segregated public school and had witnessed the 1957 Central High School scandal. In fact, I was in the Arkansas National Guard when then-Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus activated the National Guard to keep nine Black children from enrolling in Central High School.
So, I did know about racism and deeply regretted that it was so prevalent in our culture. But perhaps I was slow in connecting racism with the requirement of having paid a poll tax to vote.
I wasn't taught about "Jim Crow" laws in school and I didn't know that our white male lawmakers had created the poll-tax laws to keep Blacks and poor whites from voting. Therefore, I was late in learning about this hidden corruption and that the intent of the poll tax was to discourage the "wrong" people from qualifying to vote, leaving the eligible voting population mostly made up of wealthier white men whose hidden motive was to control election results.
Such was the norm and culture of that period, and few questioned it.
Could voting rights be changed? As a result of the Civil War that ended in 1865, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote to former slaves, was adopted in 1870. However, for nearly 100 years the federal government did little to keep the former Confederate states from passing poll taxes and restricting voting rights.
It took the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1964 to change this nationwide. This amendment reads: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax."
Then-President Lyndon B. Johnson called the amendment a "triumph of liberty over restriction" and "a verification of people's rights."
Arkansas repealed its poll tax in November 1964, but it wasn't until 1966 that the poll taxes in four other Southern states were struck down in a series of federal court decisions.
Voting rights continue to be debated and tweaked, but fortunately all citizens can now register to vote and vote in all elections free of charge. However, even though voting is free, only 30 to 40 percent of registered voters do vote in most elections. So, have we made progress?
Yes, we have made definite progress since the poll-tax era. But even though there are no poll taxes suppressing the vote, we must be vigilant and watchful to guard against other, more modern forms of voter suppression.
Jim Lancaster lives in Sheridan. He is a former state representative and currently serves on the Sheridan City Council. He has published two books on local history.