I think it’s pretty disturbing how so many people vote without having any knowledge of current events or how government works. I think people should have to pass a basic test to be able to use their right to vote
topics would include: basic civics, the US constitution, roles of government officials
important events of US history
basic questions about current issues (and the candidates views on them, to ensure people know who they’re voting for)
what else is important to know if you want to vote?
Include a sheet of paper with descriptions of the responsibilities of each office, and require voters to match an office to its role in order for that vote to count.
I don’t think knowledge of how the government operates is all that critical for the purposes of voting. If you ignore that fact that it’s both illegal and unwise, I think I’d ask questions about science and world events.
I’m not sure right now what questions would be really important, but one thing I do think would be important would be to have multiple ways to qualify.
This sort of thing was tried many years ago in the US in several locations and it often became a caricature where voting officials used their discretion to flunk all black people and pass all white people. Surely you’ve heard of this? The tests were usually branded “Literacy” tests.
In order to help prevent officials from skewing the questions and answers on the test itself or abusing their discretion to decide whether or not any answer is “correct”, instead of taking a test at the poll you would get a voting license by qualifying in some way. For example, you could say that a person can vote if they have fulfilled any of these criteria:
Passed a test administered by voting officials at the polls.
Have a college degree (maybe even a high school diploma would be good enough). If you’re smart enough for that then surely you can be expected to figure out what the major issues are this year.
Pass a course in political science, citizenship, or something similar at a high school, college, etc.
Receive an endorsement from at least X registered voters.
So, if Bob Joe McBob and his Klan henchmen rig the voting test again this year, you could just go to a different jurisdiction and take Responsible Citizenship 101 at Big City Community College and come back with your report card showing at least a C.
How about being able to identify items from each party’s political platform?
As an example, each of these items is from either the Democratic or Republican 2012 official platform. Identify which party said what:
American companies must be more competitive in the world market, and we must be aggressive in promoting U.S. products abroad and securing open markets for them.
We gather to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on Earth - the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.
Small businesses are the leaders in the world’s advances in technology and innovation, and we pledge to strengthen that role and foster small business entrepreneurship.
We see an America with greater economic security and opportunity, driven by education, energy, innovation and infrastructure, and a tax code that helps to create American jobs and bring down the debt in a balanced way.
A federal-State-private partnership must invest in the nation’s infrastructure: roads, bridges, airports, ports, and water systems, among others. Federal training programs have to be overhauled and made relevant for the workplace of the twenty-first century.
We now stand at a make-or-break moment for families, and America faces a clear choice in this election: move forward toward a nation built from the middle class out where everyone has the chance to get ahead, or go back to the same failed ideas that created the crisis in the first place.
Because of the vital role of religious organizations, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies in fostering benevolence and patriotism, they should not be subject to taxation, and donations to them should continue to be tax deductible.
We suggest a tripartite test for every federal activity. First, is it within the constitutional scope of the federal government? Second, is it effective and absolutely necessary? And third, is it sufficiently important to justify borrowing, especially foreign borrowing, to fund it?
And we continue to fight for measures that would strengthen the recovery and create jobs now, including keeping teachers and first responders on the job, putting construction workers back to work by investing in our roads, bridges, schools, and water supply, helping families refinance their mortgages and save hundreds of dollars a month, cutting taxes for small businesses that invest and hire, and putting veterans back to work.
Homeownership expands personal liberty, builds communities, and helps Americans create wealth.
We will continue to invest in our public health infrastructure - ensuring that we are able to respond to emergencies and support community-based efforts to prevent disease.
This worldwide explosion of trade has had a downside, however, as some governments have used a variety of unfair means to limit American access to their markets while stealing our designs, patents, brands, know-how, and technology-the “intellectual property” that drives innovation. The chief offender is China, which has built up its economy in part by piggybacking onto Western technological advances, manipulates its currency to the disadvantage of American exporters, excludes American products from government purchases, subsidizes Chinese companies to give them a commercial advantage, and invents regulations and standards designed to keep out foreign competition.
We believe every American deserves a secure, healthy, and dignified retirement. America’s seniors have earned their Medicare and Social Security through a lifetime of hard work and personal responsibility.
We will restore the rule of law to labor law by blocking “card check,” enacting the Secret Ballot Protection Act, enforcing the Hobbs Act against labor violence, and passing the Raise Act to allow all workers to receive well-earned raises without the approval of their union representative.
We are committed to ensuring that every child in America has access to a world-class public education so we can out-educate the world and make sure America has the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
People of faith and religious organizations do amazing work in communities across this country and the world, and we believe in lifting up and valuing that good work, and finding ways to support it where possible
Write a 100 word essay on why laws establishing voting eligibility tests are a profoundly bad idea that inevitably lead to egregious civil rights violations, using specific examples from 20th century U.S. history.
I agree - because, for example, the manifesto of one of the parties in the running could in fact be to completely change everything about the way government operates, couldn’t it?
I remember one of Robert A. Heinlein’s scientist heroes – back when the slide rule was on the cutting edge of calculating technology – declaring that anyone who couldn’t use a slide rule, was culturally illiterate and shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Though I enjoy a good deal of Heinlein’s work, I sometimes get the uneasy feeling that had he known me personally, if it had been within his power he’d have speedily dispatched me to the gas chamber…