Disenfranchisement in the post-reconstruction south included efforts made by the southern states to prevent african american citizens from voting. state governments issued poll taxes, knowing the recently freed blacks could not afford to pay taxes, and required potential voters to pass literacy tests, knowing most blacks could not read. this was their way of keeping african americans out of the political system. this passage describes a few methods that some states used to disenfranchise voters. this disenfranchisement was in direct violation of a. the fifteenth amendment. b. grandfather clauses. c. jim crow laws. d. de jure segregation.