Do you think it would be a good idea to require potential voters to pass a short test of basic knowledge?

Question

Basic knowledge would include: find the U.S. on a world map. Find Mexico on a world map. Find Canada on a world map. Name ANY language that is spoken in the U.S. other than English. Explain what is meant by separation of church and state. Etc.... wouldn't have to be culturally biased.

Natty-Le: I don't disagree that stupid people have a RIGHT TO EXIST, I just question whether they have a right to contribute, as voters, to decisions that will affect my life and the future of this nation.

Answer 1

Yes. I think that if a person has no knowledge of basic current issues their vote sabotages our government.

Answer 2

A brief i.q. test would be far more useful.

So I do think some such reqirements would be good, but not as an idea. If it is just an idea, it is not a good one. It would be good however, if something of it's kind were just done.

I also think it would benefit the whole country, things being as they are, if there were an income requirement for voting.
Only the top third of the U. S. in income brackets really have any sensible business voting. The rest is just the November blithering of American rabble.

The whole population should probably participate more fully in things like primary-elections and caucusings a nd r Efferendums, more frequently, and could instead.

This is not American Idol. (Or maybe it is. I stand corrected perhaps atdthat.) We fake out so much pride in a "democracy" republic, and then enjoy having only 50ish% of our eligible population
participate the voice of their citizenship by even bothering to as much as vote.
We still have fourth of July, but it is too filthy a thing for us to take a national voting day.

If this is the care with which we regard our citizenship, the Mexicans truly deserve it more than we do. (And they don't even want it -which is why they dont want to learn or speak English- they want to remain Mexicans, still think of themselves as such, just come here for the money, their eager exchange of cheap labor. Even THEY are not eager to be American any longer.)

We are bankrupting our country, impoverishing our pride. More cult than culture. We are gluttons. Well marketed glut.

Answer 3

No, just like poll taxes, it is a bad idea. We are the oldest democracy in the world. It has been less than a hundred years since the last Native Americans got the right to vote. Further, only 30-50 percent of people vote in a presidential election. Lets do more to include people, before we start kicking them out.

Answer 4

You start with simple questions, then advance to a very complicated question of constitutional law which is answered quite differently by liberals and conservatives: "Explain what is meant by separation of church and state." That SHOULD show you how easily voting "qualification" requirements can be abused. Intentionally or unintentionally.

And, of course, as others have pointed out, such tests are illegal because they were abused to keep blacks from voting in the US for nearly 100 years.

Answer 5

A good friend of mine makes more money than I believe as a (computer) application designer and is very well informed on current event and politics, but he has problems even getting across town using a map. I don't see where a knowledge of geography, or even being literate, should be requirements to vote.

Answer 6

Your examples indicate your bias, hon. And since there is no agreement on the meaning of separation of church and state how can that be basic knowledge? Even if you are well intentioned, this system is WAY to easy to corrupt, in order to eliminate the voters with whom you disagree.

Answer 7

I think the questions should be....who is running for president on the democrat ticket??..who is running for president on the republican ticket??..who is the present American President and his vice President?..who is secretary of State?..who is the Speaker of the House?...if they don't have that much knowledge they shouldn't be voting..I hate the thought of my informed vote being canceled out by some uninformed boob who knows of only what the media says about the one the media happens to like the most....hillary is the sweetheart of the media at this time, and many only know that they like her because they heard lou dobbs say how great she is or some mindless 15 second clip that is being repeating on TV....

Answer 8

thank you. Bush, Palin and Cheney have achieved sufficient injury. With a properly worded citizenship try non of the three could have handed and our great usa wouldnt be interior the finished its in. in case you observed the McCain/Obama debates and marketing campaign you're able to additionally see that approximately 2/3 of registered republicans could fail additionally. ultimately a thank you to get the ignorant to no longer vote.

Answer 9

No, If you are a citizen and you are registered (that in itself is a test of it's own) you have the right to vote. A test would mean that you do not have the right to vote. It would lead to many other bad constraints on voting. Can you see? No? No vote. Are you over the age of 65? Yes? No vote. Voting is not a privilege but a guaranteed right and duty of very American citizen that can.

Answer 10

No that was outlawed in slave days and whose to say that the person making the test isn't biased and if thats the cause our current president wouldn;t be in office. testing shouldn't be required cause not everyone are test takers and that would skew the results.