CRAZY POLL TAX STORIES: The Way The 24th Amendment Was Passed, Why Some  Loved Paying The  Tax, and Three  Words to Watch.

CRAZY POLL TAX STORIES: The Way The 24th Amendment Was Passed, Why Some Loved Paying The Tax, and Three Words to Watch.

From My History Can Beat Up Your Politics by Bruce Carlson

April 5, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

This episode explores the legislative history of the 24th Amendment and the complexities surrounding the poll tax in voting.

The 24th amendment banning the payment of poll tax or other tax in order to vote, had a crazy legislative history to get passed. Alexander's Hamilton's House became a central part of the Senate effort. How the poll tax was defended in 1939 in Texas, and how the way it was administered was often worse than any one-time fee. Also: 3 words to watch in voter ID battles. Why people still paid poll tax even after the amendment passed, and why maybe the 24th didn't need to be passed at all. in this episode a few stories we left out of our previous episode on the 24th Amendment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Bruce Carlson

Topics covered

  • poll tax
  • 24th Amendment
  • voter ID
  • legislative history
  • Texas
  • politics

Keywords

  • poll tax
  • 24th Amendment
  • voter ID battles
  • legislative history
  • Texas
  • Alexander Hamilton

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Texas

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