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Quiz: How much do you know about voting rights?

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Young person votiing
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As your kids notice signs of the upcoming election and maybe even witness you voting — or as your teens approach voting age — they may be curious about how it all came to be. What are you teaching them about voting and the history of voting?

Research has shown that when parents participate in elections and teach kids about the importance of voting, kids are more likely to vote when they grow up. And the influence can go both ways! Another study revealed that when teens and young adults are active voters, their mothers are more likely to show up at the polls too.

One interesting way to engage young people in conversations about voting is to talk about voting rights. It’s eye opening to find out about entire groups of people who had to fight for their rights to vote, and to think about which current voting rules are fair or unfair — ask your child for their opinions to spark a healthy debate.

Take the voting rights trivia quiz for families

Back in 1776 when the country was founded, voting rights were limited to white male property owners in almost all states. In the centuries since then, various groups have had to fight for the right to vote in elections.

Use these trivia questions and answers to learn more together about the history of voting and voting rights, and what kinds of voter requirements are in place today. When your kids do eventually cast a vote in an election, they might do so with greater appreciation for their ability to vote!

Voting Rights Quiz
1. Which state was the first to allow women to vote in elections?

Answer: C) New Jersey was the first and only state to include women as voters in 1790, when the words “he or she” were added to the New Jersey State Constitution’s election law.

2. In what year did American women gain the right to vote in all states?

Answer: C) In 1920, women across the country finally got the right to vote when the 19th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution. Learn more about how women got the right to vote.

3. Which amendment to the Constitution gave Black men the right to vote?

Answer: D) The 15th Amendment in 1870 granted Black men the right to vote nationally. However, many states (especially in the South) still had laws and policies to make it almost impossible for most Black residents to vote, including poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses, until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (almost 100 years later!).

4. What were the “grandfather clauses” in voting law?

Answer: B) Some states had grandfather clauses, which meant that only men whose ancestors before 1867 were allowed to vote would be allowed to vote. It was one sneaky way of keeping African American men from voting, even though they technically had gained the right to vote in 1870. These grandfather clauses were finally outlawed in 1965.

5. Who said that now “there can be no one too poor to vote,” while announcing that poll taxes (making people pay to vote) would no longer be allowed in 1964?
Answer: A) President Lyndon B. Johnson made those remarks in 1964 while announcing the 26th Amendment, which finally made it law that no state could charge fees for voting. This made voting accessible to a greater proportion of the population, no matter their income.
6. In 1961, residents of __________ were granted the right to cast a vote in presidential and vice presidential elections for the first time.
Answer: A) In 1961, the 23rd Amendment gave American citizens living in Washington DC the right to vote for president and vice president. Residents of the territory of Puerto Rico still cannot vote for president and vice president.
7. In 1984, an important new law made voting more accessible to…
Answer: B) In 1984, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act was signed into law. It required that polling places be made accessible for people with disabilities and the elderly, with design features such as ramps, elevators, lifts, parking and drop-off areas. If no accessible location is available, voters who need it must be offered another way to vote (like a mail-in ballot).
8. The minimum voting age wasn’t always 18. When the 26th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1971, the voting age was lowered from ____ to 18.

Answer: B) Before 1971, the minimum voting age for federal elections was 21. The youth voting rights movement made the point that if young people were old enough to be drafted into the military at 18, then they should be considered old enough to vote.

9. In how many states do voters currently have to show an ID at the polls?

Answer: D) 36 states have laws requiring or requesting voters to bring a form of ID to the polls. The remaining 14 states and Washington DC do not require any documentation to vote. Many experts believe that requiring an ID to vote simply makes it harder to vote in an election (especially for low-income, rural, elderly and young adults, Native American, Black and Latino voters, who are less likely to have an ID).

10. What language(s) besides English are voting instructions and ballots printed in?

Answer: A) Election laws state that if a county (or city/town in some cases) has enough citizens of voting age who speak a single language besides English, according to Census data, then voting materials, forms, and instructions must be provided in that language. Plus, voters are allowed to bring someone with them to help them read and fill in the ballot if needed. English isn’t an official language, and voting can reflect the diversity of our communities! In New York City, for example, voter registration forms are available in 15 languages.

Check out these other history trivia quizzes:

Joanna Eng is a staff writer and digital content specialist at ParentsTogether. She lives with her wife and two kids in New York, where she loves to hike, try new foods, and check out way too many books from the library.

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