Harper v. Board of Elections (1966) is associated with which voting-rights ruling?

• A. Poll Tax
• B. Literacy Test
• C. White Primary
• D. Gerrymandering

Answer: (A)

The test is about how the Supreme Court treated wealth-based voting prerequisites in state elections. Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections held that poll taxes—fees charged to voters as a condition for casting a ballot—violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when applied to state elections. The Court reasoned that tying the right to vote to payment of money imposes an unconstitutional burden on a fundamental right and discriminates on the basis of wealth, which a democracy cannot allow. Although the federal government had already barred poll taxes in federal elections through the 24th Amendment, this decision extended protection to state elections via equal protection. The other options refer to different methods of disenfranchisement (literacy tests, white primaries) or electoral manipulation (gerrymandering) and are not the focus of this ruling.