Apparently the only whites debarred under this clause were the illiterate and indigent sons of foreign-born fathers.
North Carolina adopted a new suffrage article in 1900 which is much simpler than those just described.

It requires two years' residence in the State, one in the county, and the payment of poll tax before the 1st of May in the election year.

A uniform educational qualification is laid down, but the "permanent roll" is also included.

No "male person who was on January 1, 1867, or at any other time prior thereto, entitled to vote under the laws of any State in the United States, wherein he then resided, and no lineal descendant of any such person shall be denied the right to register and vote at any election in the State by reason of his failure to possess the educational qualifications herein prescribed: _Provided_ he shall have registered in accordance with the terms of this section prior to December 1, 1908." In other words, any white illiterate thirteen years old or over when the amendment was adopted would not be deprived of his vote because of the lack of educational qualifications.

No other State had given so long a time as this.
The "grandfather clause" here was shrewdly drawn.