AP Gov Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Practice Test 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

The key idea here is removing financial barriers to voting. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment makes poll taxes illegal in federal elections, ensuring people aren’t blocked from voting in national contests by having to pay a fee. Harper v. Board of Elections then extended that protection to all elections by ruling that poll taxes violate equal protection, so they can’t be used in state or local elections either. So the barrier at issue is the poll tax.

The other barriers listed—literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and white primaries—were addressed by different provisions and cases, but the combination of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment and Harper v. Board of Elections specifically targets poll taxes.