half-effective

Updated: July 11, 2026

From the standpoint of its proposers, it would be only half-effective, for it could reach only those debarred by actual want of property or education; the larger exclusion by the unfair administration of election officers is an individual matter, beyond the cognizance of statute-books.

George Spring Merriam - The Negro and the Nation: A History of American Slavery and Enfranchisement