Which amendment prohibits denying the right to vote based on race or color?

• A. The Fourteenth Amendment
• B. The Sixteenth Amendment
• C. The Seventeenth Amendment
• D. The Fifteenth Amendment

Answer: (D)

Right to vote cannot be denied because of race or color is protected by the Fifteenth Amendment. Ratified in 1870 during Reconstruction, it declares that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. That explicit prohibition targets precisely the issue in question, making it the best answer.

Other amendments address different topics. One focuses on equal protection and due process for all citizens, including voting rights in a broader sense, but it does not single out race-based denial in the same explicit way. Another changes how Senators are elected, and another deals with federal income taxes. While enforcement of voting rights has involved later measures, the direct prohibition on denying the vote based on race is specifically in the Fifteenth Amendment.