On January 23, 1964, the Twenty-fourth Amendment, banning the poll tax in all federal elections, was ratified. As introduced, S. 1564 did not ban poll taxes for state and local election. The administration and many senators did not believe such a ban would withstand a constitutional challenge. The bill reported by the Judiciary Committee on April 9, however, included a complete ban on poll taxes. When the bill went to the floor, Mansfield and Dirksen deleted this provision and substituted one authorizing federal courts to determine if local poll taxes were racially discriminatory. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) sponsored a floor amendment that restored the committee-reported bill’s ban on all poll taxes, but on May 11, the Senate narrowly defeated Kennedy’s amendment by a vote of 45 to 49.