Terrell Election Law

The Terrell Election Law was part of a wave of election reform legislation instituting a poll tax, secret ballot, and a closed primary system in Texas from 1902 to 1907,[1] during the Progressive Era of United States history. The 1903 law[2] allowed parties to restrict who could vote in their primaries, paving the way to exclude African-American voters from Democratic Party primaries.[3] A poll tax had been established in 1902 and both laws disenfranchised African Americans. The Terrell Law was named for Alexander W. Terrell.[4] The law was revised in 1905–1906.[2] A 1923 amendment established a complete ban on African Americans voting in any Democratic Party primaries. Lawrence Aaron Nixon sued and the law was eventually thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court (Nixon v. Herndon). A modified version of the law was passed by the Texas Legislature and again thrown out upon reaching the U.S. Supreme Court in a suit filed by Nixon. The decision was written by Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo.[3]