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How do we feel about some kind of objective standardized test that you'd have to pass in order to be allowed to vote? Should cover some high-school basics as we

How do we feel about some kind of objective standardized test that you'd have to pass in order to be allowed to vote? Should cover some high-school basics as well as an understanding of the published platform for all major candidates in the election.

InitialLastName 6y ago
Places have tried this (look up the history of "literacy tests"), and it mostly functioned as a mechanism to discriminate against voters of certain classes. Long term, if you have a test to vote and, say, people somewhere don't tend to vote the way you like, but you have control of the funding for their education system, it's easy enough to make decisions that net reduce that population's ability to vote.
- core-questions 6y ago
  > it mostly functioned as a mechanism to discriminate against voters of certain classes Well, we can set the bar wherever we like; the question was ultimately "can we have a bar at all". Since some people seem to think that even asking for ID is too high of a bar, it's clear to me that there's a market into catering to extremely-low-information voters; not that anyone is every going to _do_ a damned thing for them, but you can certainly make hollow promises easily enough. An alternate requirement if we want a higher bar than an academic test would be to require that one own land and have children before you're allowed to vote, or something like that. Perhaps a combination of alternatives could be offered. The question I'm really trying to ask is whether it's at all reasonable to do something to increase the quality of the vote.
  - InitialLastName 6y ago
    >The question I'm really trying to ask is whether it's at all reasonable to do something to increase the quality of the vote. Absolutely. I'm 100% for programs to promote literacy and civic education. Reduce corporate political financing so that politicians _have to_ appeal to their constituencies. Increase the density of elected representatives so that each representative has a constituency small enough for them to actually reasonably represent.
striking 6y ago
How do you feel about the fact that these existed and were outlawed? https://ballotpedia.org/Literacy_as_a_requirement_for_voting https://ballotpedia.org/Literacy_as_a_requirement_for_voting
- core-questions 6y ago
  Seems like a shame, honestly. The test could certainly have evolved, like IQ tests have, to be less focused on particular cultural knowledge and just be a general test of capability.
ndiscussion 6y ago
Who's "we"? Anyone who's read Plato's Republic knows the dangers of democracy, or is lying to themselves.
rascul 6y ago
Most people of legal age to vote in the US has completed or will soon complete their high school education. If that's not good enough, maybe the problem is the education.
mikestew 6y ago
How do we feel about some kind of objective standardized test that you'd have to pass in order to be allowed to vote? Sure you want that? Because if there are any questions on the test about Jim Crow laws, you're going to fail. https://www.treeoflogic.com/literacy_test.htm https://www.treeoflogic.com/literacy_test.htm

InitialLastName 6y ago

Places have tried this (look up the history of "literacy tests"), and it mostly functioned as a mechanism to discriminate against voters of certain classes. Long term, if you have a test to vote and, say, people somewhere don't tend to vote the way you like, but you have control of the funding for their education system, it's easy enough to make decisions that net reduce that population's ability to vote.

core-questions 6y ago
> it mostly functioned as a mechanism to discriminate against voters of certain classes Well, we can set the bar wherever we like; the question was ultimately "can we have a bar at all". Since some people seem to think that even asking for ID is too high of a bar, it's clear to me that there's a market into catering to extremely-low-information voters; not that anyone is every going to _do_ a damned thing for them, but you can certainly make hollow promises easily enough. An alternate requirement if we want a higher bar than an academic test would be to require that one own land and have children before you're allowed to vote, or something like that. Perhaps a combination of alternatives could be offered. The question I'm really trying to ask is whether it's at all reasonable to do something to increase the quality of the vote.
- InitialLastName 6y ago
  >The question I'm really trying to ask is whether it's at all reasonable to do something to increase the quality of the vote. Absolutely. I'm 100% for programs to promote literacy and civic education. Reduce corporate political financing so that politicians _have to_ appeal to their constituencies. Increase the density of elected representatives so that each representative has a constituency small enough for them to actually reasonably represent.

striking 6y ago

How do you feel about the fact that these existed and were outlawed? https://ballotpedia.org/Literacy_as_a_requirement_for_voting https://ballotpedia.org/Literacy_as_a_requirement_for_voting

core-questions 6y ago
Seems like a shame, honestly. The test could certainly have evolved, like IQ tests have, to be less focused on particular cultural knowledge and just be a general test of capability.

ndiscussion 6y ago

Who's "we"? Anyone who's read Plato's Republic knows the dangers of democracy, or is lying to themselves.

rascul 6y ago

Most people of legal age to vote in the US has completed or will soon complete their high school education. If that's not good enough, maybe the problem is the education.

mikestew 6y ago

How do we feel about some kind of objective standardized test that you'd have to pass in order to be allowed to vote? Sure you want that? Because if there are any questions on the test about Jim Crow laws, you're going to fail. https://www.treeoflogic.com/literacy_test.htm https://www.treeoflogic.com/literacy_test.htm