# Ever know anyone you thought shouldn't be allowed to vote? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 14, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087 "2020-08-14T14:05:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/41 "2020-08-16T06:31:24Z")
I don’t think anyone should be allowed to vote who is a net recipient of government aid. If you receive more in welfare, food stamps, SNAP, or whatever it is called, than you pay in taxes, you should not have a voice in government policy. It just seems like a bad way to run a system, and an invitation to instability. These people would just vote for themselves to receive more and more and more, until the system goes bankrupt. We are seeing the beginnings of it even now. Note that I am not talking about Social Security, or Unemployment Benefits, or anything that you paid into to receive. Just government largess that you are getting without having earned it. I’m not opposed to having these safety valves, I’m just opposed to letting people vote while using them. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/42 "2020-08-16T06:54:40Z")
i haven’t met many people I think should be allowed to vote. But if we’re going to have this system then every US citizen of majority age should have the right to vote for any election in which they are a constituent, without exception. Everybody should be able to deliver a ballot to any government office for 30 days prior to election day and have that ballot counted. Penalties for interfering with anyone’s right to vote should be severe. The system is not working if people are denied their right to vote. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/43 "2020-08-16T15:11:56Z")
Nice poll tax. This does mean that nearly anyone with kids in school is disenfranchised, is that one of the results you are looking for? Though, the one thing I could see that is beneficial to this is that if you are on the board of directors or a major shareholder of a company that receives more in tax benefits than it pays in taxes, then you would not be able to vote. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/44 "2020-08-16T15:35:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Every person physically present in the country (usa) should have ballot access, since they are subject to the laws and taxes, regardless of citizenship. The incompetent or small children can have their care-taker vote in their interest. No exceptions. The Kingdom of Hawai’i made it relatively easy for foreigners to acquire Hawai’ian citizenship. The foreigners voted to allow the U.S.A. to colonize Hawai’i. The Mexican government made a similar mistake in Texas. Citizenship matters. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/45 "2020-08-16T20:38:02Z")
Quite a few people. But unlike the Republikans, I would never act to suppress someone’s vote. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/46 "2020-08-16T21:43:24Z")
I also know one small-town newspaper that should no longer enjoy “freedom of the press” because of excessive lying. Except…who watches the watchmen? Whom do we set up as “guardian of truth” with the power to shut down “fake news?” The sad, ugly – and glorious! – truth is that freedom is our ideal, and we _accept_ lying newspapers. Same, then, with incompetent voters. Too easy to imagine the “Bureau of Voter Inspection” reading stuff I might have written when in college and decreeing, “Insufficient regard for patriotic values, voter status revoked.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/47 "2020-08-17T01:33:12Z")
How do you know that people who are on SNAP, etc. didn’t pay into it before they fell on hard times? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/48 "2020-08-17T01:49:17Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > > [@jtur88](#): > > > > Every person physically present in the country (usa) should have ballot access, since they are subject to the laws and taxes, regardless of citizenship. The incompetent or small children can have their care-taker vote in their interest. No exceptions. > > The Kingdom of Hawai’i made it relatively easy for foreigners to acquire Hawai’ian citizenship. > The foreigners voted to allow the U.S.A. to colonize Hawai’i. > > The Mexican government made a similar mistake in Texas. > > Citizenship matters. Both turned out to be pretty good moves. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/49 "2020-08-17T02:43:12Z")
> I don’t think anyone should be allowed to vote who is a net recipient of government aid. Would you have felt this way during the Great Depression? Do you not think that people, with no jobs to be had, have the right to vote for their and their country’s destiny? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/50 "2020-08-17T03:19:51Z")
Not only do I think they should all be _allowed_ to vote, I think they should all be _required_ to vote. And that’s including those currently incarcerated. What most people don’t realize about those laws is how they benefit the local populace. The number of people living in the area determines the number of Representatives they get. But in the case of States that don’t let prisoners vote, the local populace gets to decide which Reps they will have. So every local vote is worth 2-3 times what an average Americans vote is worth. And the local populace will be made up of guards and people who work in the prison. So their concern is not for the well-being of the prisoners, it’s for the continuation of the institution that pays them. They need that prison to be full in order for their town to thrive. It is a terrible conflict of interest and benefits, which has resulted in some of our most shameful realities. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/51 "2020-08-17T05:13:46Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > This does mean that nearly anyone with kids in school is disenfranchised, is that one of the results you are looking for? Noooo, I specifically exempted things you pay into. You pay into the government schools with your property taxes, at least in most of the USA. Same with unemployment benefits, etc. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/52 "2020-08-17T05:24:49Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Noooo, I specifically exempted things you pay into. You pay into the government schools with your property taxes, at least in most of the USA. Same with unemployment benefits, etc. Renters indirectly pay into property taxes when they pay their rent and the landlord uses it to pay the property taxes on the building. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/53 "2020-08-17T05:30:45Z")
Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/54 "2020-08-17T08:09:11Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I don’t think anyone should be allowed to vote who is a net recipient of government aid. If you receive more in welfare, food stamps, SNAP, or whatever it is called, than you pay in taxes, you should not have a voice in government policy. It just seems like a bad way to run a system, and an invitation to instability. These people would just vote for themselves to receive more and more and more, until the system goes bankrupt. We are seeing the beginnings of it even now. I agree about everything you said except it applies to people who pay less taxes than i do. I dare say you would fit in that category, you probably think you pay your own way but like the vast majority of the country you do not, you are a net recipient of government aid, you could not afford even one mile of the roads you use much less your fair portion of the cost of operating this country. Just because you aren’t receiving aid directly in cash or in payment of your personal bills doesn’t mean anything, you are still a welfare recipient. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087/55 "2020-08-17T10:49:20Z")
From some of the posts I’ve read on farcebook, there are definitely people who shouldn’t be allowed to vote on the grounds of abject stupidity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-know-anyone-you-thought-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-vote/918087.md?page=2)