Alabama Constitution Section 195 Same Payment of tax of another advance of money for payment in order to influence vote
Certainly. Here’s a more detailed explanation of Alabama Constitution – Section 195:
🔹 Full Context of Section 195:
This section was part of Alabama’s 1901 Constitution, during a time when poll taxes were commonly used in Southern states as a requirement for voting.
🔹 What It Says (In Simpler Terms):
Section 195 made it illegal for anyone to:
Pay someone else’s poll tax, or
Lend or advance money to someone so they could pay their poll tax,
if the reason was to influence how that person votes in an election.
🔍 Why This Was Included:
Preventing Vote Buying:
At that time, some wealthy individuals, political groups, or employers would pay the poll tax for poor voters in exchange for a guaranteed vote.
This section tried to stop that practice by criminalizing it.
But There’s a Catch — Racial Disenfranchisement:
While this section claimed to ensure “clean elections,” it was part of a larger system (including literacy tests, understanding clauses, and poll taxes) designed to suppress Black and poor white voters.
Wealthy elites could still indirectly influence votes while the poor had limited access to the ballot.
⚖️ Real-World Example (from early 1900s):
Imagine a political candidate wants support from low-income workers who can’t afford the poll tax. He pays their tax and tells them who to vote for.
Under Section 195, that would be illegal, because the payment was tied to influencing their vote.
📜 Legal Impact Today:
Poll taxes were declared unconstitutional by the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1964) and later court decisions (like Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 1966).
So, Section 195 is now obsolete (though still technically in the text of the old constitution).
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