 They did so through patently discriminatory, although seemingly race-neutral, restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests. As the pioneers of modern democracy, the founders understood that the right to vote grounds all other rights, that it empowers Americans to become participants in government rather than mere petitioners. But it was their omission of voting rights that triggered a war over America's embattled vote that continues to rage in the halls of Congress and in the courtrooms of federal judges.