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Supreme Court Strikes Down Virginia’s Residency Requirement

1965

Following ratification of the Twenty-fourth Amendment, Virginia amends its poll tax law. Voters can either pay the poll tax or file a “certificate of residency” proving they lived in the state six months prior to the election. In Harman v. Forssenius, the Supreme Court rules that the burden of proving residency so far in advance of an election violates the Twenty-fourth Amendment.