Some kind of Test before Voting?

[dead0man]

Mandatory voting is a terrible idea and it's embarrassing to see so many liberals endorsing it because they wrongly think it would help their 'side' in elections.

This has always bothered me.  If you know the ignorant, apathetic and dumb are generally going to vote the same way you do...I don't know, seems like it would make me question why I'm voting that way.

[Jacobtm]

Mandatory voting is a terrible idea and it's embarrassing to see so many liberals endorsing it because they wrongly think it would help their 'side' in elections.

This has always bothered me.  If you know the ignorant, apathetic and dumb are generally going to vote the same way you do...I don't know, seems like it would make me question why I'm voting that way.

The alliance of Upper class liberals and the Lower class against the Middle is one of the defining characteristics in American Politics. Liberals offer free stuff for the lower classes, and the lower classes offer votes for liberals. This has been commented on by Steve Sailer as the "High/Low vs. Middle":
http://www.unz.com/isteve/highlow-v-middle-part-cxxvi/

And here as the ancient Chinese strategy of Yi Yi Zhi Yi - Using the barbarians against the barbarians.

Liberals want to do everything they can to defeat what is left of the white conservative Republican electorate, flooding the country with immigrants is one way to do that, offering all sorts of free cash to our current underclass is another way. Here's some reading on it:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2008/02/theory-of-ruling-underclass.html

[Marokai Backbeat]

Mandatory voting is a terrible idea and it's embarrassing to see so many liberals endorsing it because they wrongly think it would help their 'side' in elections.

Dude I support abolishing the Senate and the Presidential Veto, which would definitely not help my "side."

[eric82oslo]

Voting should be mandatory.

In the meantime, voluntary voting should be as easy as possible, and your suggestion would discourage the apathetic from voting by making them jump through meaningless hoops before they gain the ability to vote.

+1

Compulsory voting + automatic registration + a long early window for early ballots + making an election day a national holiday is the way to go.

Basically this.

[Torie]

I am not quite sure at this point just which party  such a test (which of course is Unconstitutional) would help at this point. As the Pubs suck up the white working class, it's getting a lot of supporters who may not have done very well in school.

[Jacobtm]

Mandatory voting is a wonderful idea for leftists to secure power. Most of the people who don't vote would vote for leftists if they went to the polls. The oft-predicted Latino Voter surge is less powerful than we're constantly told just because relatively few Latino voters bother to show up.

[pho]

If we have the freedom to be apathetic and/or disillusioned, then both mandatory voting and testing requirements would be violations of that freedom

[Mister Mets]

A significant problem with any test is the question of who comes up with it. Presumably those guys would try to game the system, with questions that their supporters are likelier to answer. Republicans might ask about the national debt, while Democrats would ask voters about racial justice issues.

Conservatives would likely fare better here, due to the democratic advantage with high-school dropouts.

[RFayette]

A significant problem with any test is the question of who comes up with it. Presumably those guys would try to game the system, with questions that their supporters are likelier to answer. Republicans might ask about the national debt, while Democrats would ask voters about racial justice issues.

Conservatives would likely fare better here, due to the democratic advantage with high-school dropouts.

True.  Democrats would be more likely to be disenfranchised with practically any type of test, unless it was so complex that only the top quintile or so could pass (as liberals fare well with those at the low and high ends of the cognitive ability spectrum, conservatives more in the middle, in general). 

[Jacobtm]

It has been suggested before to make the test similar to our Citizenship Test, which has questions and answers publicly available online. They are very simple questions:

"What is the supreme law of the land?"


"Who lived in America before Europeans arrived?"


"Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?"


"Name one state that borders Canada."

"When do we celebrate Independence Day?"
http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/100q.pdf

[Antonio the Sixth]

"Who lived in America before Europeans arrived?"

I wonder if "Indians" is an accepted answer. Would be pretty hilarious if so.

[Slander and/or Libel]

It has been suggested before to make the test similar to our Citizenship Test, which has questions and answers publicly available online. They are very simple questions:

"What is the supreme law of the land?"


"Who lived in America before Europeans arrived?"


"Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?"


"Name one state that borders Canada."

"When do we celebrate Independence Day?"
http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/100q.pdf

What relevance do those have to a citizen's determination of which candidate is going to better serve his political interests?

[Bismarck]

I would support this, but it would never happen. Why do so many feel
That uninformed voters are a benefit to society? If you don't understand basic civics
Should you really play a part in choosing the most powerful person on Earth?

[SteveRogers]

I would support this, but it would never happen. Why do so many feel
That uninformed voters are a benefit to society? If you don't understand basic civics
Should you really play a part in choosing the most powerful person on Earth?

Yes they should because that's how democracy works.

[The Free North]

Compulsory voting is stupid: people should not be coerced to give up their time and energy to sit in a line all day to vote for people they don't want to. You have every right to vote and if you wan to sit out and not exercise that right, its your choice. Low voter turnout says more about the political class than the citizens of the country.


A 'test' in theory sounds like a good idea but it counters a lot of the core values that we claim to support and at the end of the day it doesn't make much sense considering the people you would likely disenfranchise are probably already marginalized in some other way so taking a way their right to vote just adds insult to injury.

[PJ]

Compulsory voting is stupid: people should not be coerced to give up their time and energy to sit in a line all day to vote for people they don't want to. You have every right to vote and if you wan to sit out and not exercise that right, its your choice. Low voter turnout says more about the political class than the citizens of the country.

How can the 'political class' be changed when people aren't voting to change it?

Also, voting booths where people must stand in line is one of the worst ways to conduct an election, IMO.

[TDAS04]

No to both a voting test and mandatory voting.

[Jacobtm]

I would support this, but it would never happen. Why do so many feel
That uninformed voters are a benefit to society? If you don't understand basic civics
Should you really play a part in choosing the most powerful person on Earth?

Yes they should because that's how democracy works.

"That's how democracy works" isn't really a good justification.

Why do you think that it is preferable to have people who aren't that smart voting?

Voting is just picking who will be leading our country. Basically hiring our government's managers.

Does Apple allow idiots to pick their managers, or do they only allow a very select group of people to pick their managers?

Do you think Apple would be better off if they allowed every person who was alive at age 18 to select their managers?

I don't see how anyone could imagine that allowing more idiots select the people who run our government could do anything but allow for worse people to be in those positions.

[Slander and/or Libel]

Argument by incredulity is not valid.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

At the end of the day, representative democracy is about solving the supposed 'idiot problem'. The unfocused, perhaps fuzzy and uneducated general mood of people is translated into concrete action by elected legislators.

I'm sorry if you feel that people are too dumb to share voting booths with you, although I may add that most people would view trolling political forums with inane topics is a mark against one's intelligence, so I wouldn't judge others if I were in your shoes.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

No, for two reasons:

First, any such test would be highly subjective (all tests are) and could be easily manipulated by the party in power to keep its opponents from voting. Even the most cursory examination of history shows that whenever literacy tests have been made a requirement for voting, they have inevitably been used to disenfranchise citizens. I see no reason that this would be any different today. The minute we go beyond a theoretical test and start trying to define what constitutes the minimum knowledge required to vote, we expose the democratic process to biases that undermine its legitimacy.

Second, barring "less-inteligent" voters from the polls undermines the principle of equality before the law that is the foundation of any democracy. Having a high GPA or a degree from Harvard does not make you more important than anyone else, nor does it give you a greater right to enjoy the liberties bestowed by the Constitution (including the right to vote). People who live in this country, follow its laws, and fund its government should be able to have a say in who represents them.  

[Antonio the Sixth]

Uniformed people are entitled to a voice in representation like anybody else. It's as simple as that.

[OSR stands with Israel]

no because the test can be changed and can be used to deny certain groups of people right to vote .

If there was a test I would accept this , but only if the test questions are put in the constitution

Who is the current president
What are 5 rights the constitution guarantees
When did the US declare independence
Who was the 1st president
How many total senators are in the United States

 

[Mr. Smith]

no

[Blair]

I'm sorry but why should say a working class voter who wants to vote to save his job/healthcare or for any other reason have to know some stupid piece of trivial information about the Constitution?

Oh you don't know how many senators there are? Looks like you can't vote for the guy who wants to keep your healthcare