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Before being allowed to vote? Since the favorite theme of the day are needs tests and qualifications to exercise rights, why not a qualification to vote?
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,071,793 times
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There already is a prerequisite to vote. You have to register.
Plus voting does not put others in danger, that's the difference. Yes you have a right to have a gun under the Constitution however the government has an obligation to protect the public and your fellow citizens have a right to be safe from you.
Voting does put others in danger, as much as anyone owning a gun. People vote for those who send hundreds of thousands to war. People vote on laws that take the lives of others. Obviously, given the lack of understanding how voting can affect the lives of others to the point of taking life, it goes to show just how little some know about it. Registering to vote has what to do with competency ? My point seems to be made doesn't it?
Voting does put others in danger, as much as anyone owning a gun. People vote for those who send hundreds of thousands to war. People vote on laws that take the lives of others. Obviously, given the lack of understanding how voting can affect the lives of others to the point of taking life, it goes to show just how little some know about it. Registering to vote has what to do with competency ? My point seems to be made doesn't it?
But how exactly would knowing the constitution change this? Technically speaking, the government has the right and the power to declare war. It has the right to pass laws, even ones that are cruel so long as they are not in clear violation of the constitution.
Is there a lack of understanding? Yeah. Most definitely. Most people associate the constitution with the Bill of Rights, which is inaccurate (at least partially). The constitution defines how the government is meant to operate. The system of checks and balances, as it is often referred to, is outlines in the constitution. How we vote does not change this. Each of the three branches of government wants to preserve it's power; no matter what action the government takes, the system is based on a fail-safe mechanism. Congress doesn't want to be taken over by the president because then they feel invalidated; and vice verca.
And there are enough people who do understand the constitution and would speak out when the system is clearly broken. Broken is somewhat of a loaded term; technically the system is broken, but not explicitly unconstitutionally.
Do I think knowing the constitution is important? Absolutely. I highly recommend everyone who votes to check up on the constitution, look at party platforms, and research those running (and not just of the two major parties). But should these things be a requirement? No. That's unconstitutional, and anyone who reads the constitution would view it as wrong to require people to read the constitution in order to vote. In short, legislation that would require what you want would be incredibly ironic.
New citizens are required to take a test which involves questions about the Constitution and Gov. The average high school graduate should also have a basic understanding of US History and important documents but sadly most of them know more about Kim kerdashians favorite lip gloss than they do about History.
We have so many uneducated voters that have no clue about a candidates policies, beliefs or track record yet they still vote for the bum because they like the way he looks or talks?
A test to vote I say No, but Yes to having a proper ID in order to cast that ballot.
Should a person be required to pass a knowledge competency test...Before being allowed to vote?
YES. If a person believes that the Earth is only 6,000 years old...or that human influences aren't significant enough to alter life-supporting habitats on Earth or even the atmosphere, then--YES--they are clearly too stupid to vote intelligently.
Proper ID establishes (at best) that the bearer is a citizen qualified to vote, according to the Constitution itself. It says nothing about good judgment or familiarity with the issues. As TheDusty points out in post #6, a knowledge-test as prerequisite for voting would indeed be unconstitutional. That can be resolved by amending the Constitution.
My personal opinion is that present voting-qualifications are both too narrow, and too broad. It seems to me that convicted felons shouldn't necessarily be disqualified from voting. Green Card holders (who reside in the US permanently, but are not yet citizens) ought, I think, to be allowed to vote. Thus the excessive narrowness. On the other hand, I'm not persuaded that the idea of universal one-person-one-vote has turned out to be a successful experiment. Without getting mired in a class-warfare diatribe, it seems to me that some proportionality or weighing of one's vote, in relation to "knowledge" or "competency" (whatever those mean) or "economic activity" would be a worthwhile revision.
As TheDusty points out in post #6, a knowledge-test as prerequisite for voting would indeed be unconstitutional.
Actually, there would be nothing unconstitutional about a civics test as a prerequisite for voting. The Constitution has been amended to specify certain conditions in which voting cannot be restricted -- no poll taxes are allowed, and voting can't be denied based on race, sex, or age above 18 -- but it doesn't say a test can't be administered.
I'd be all for it, because I think people have a responsibility to understand who and what they're voting for. If you can't name something as simple as the current VP or chief justice, the three branches of government, or who the USA won independence from, you have no business choosing our elected leaders.
If you have to pass a test to drive a car, it doesn't seem like too much to ask for people to pass a test before they can vote for the people who will make decisions over our lives.
Actually, there would be nothing unconstitutional about a civics test as a prerequisite for voting. The Constitution has been amended to specify certain conditions in which voting cannot be restricted -- no poll taxes are allowed, and voting can't be denied based on race, sex, or age above 18 -- but it doesn't say a test can't be administered.
I'd be all for it, because I think people have a responsibility to understand who and what they're voting for. If you can't name something as simple as the current VP or chief justice, the three branches of government, or who the USA won independence from, you have no business choosing our elected leaders.
If you have to pass a test to drive a car, it doesn't seem like too much to ask for people to pass a test before they can vote for the people who will make decisions over our lives.
Hooray. How many of us would stand up and make a lot of noise were some stranger to tell you how to raise your children yet remain silent and let someone without the basic knowledge of how this country was founded, why and upon what fundamental principles it exists, decide exactly that? Can anyone name a major problem we face that isn't rooted in the way people voted and ask yourself, just how many of those that vote haven't ever read the Constitution other than to lay claim to entitlements? How much of what goes on would be tolerated much less agreed to if people actually understood why the government was established the way it was and why there are limits placed upon it?
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