I recall being told back in high school that the evil racists in the south had implemented laws like poll taxes and literacy tests to deny black people the right to vote.
I'm now wondering, were they trying to deny the vote based on race, or was there some other objective?
First, let's eliminate the poll tax idea. Whether racist or not, citizens should never be charged any amount of money to participate in electing their representatives.
But what about literacy?
How can a democracy survive if a plurality of its voters -
Have no idea what is in the Consititution, Bill of Rights, or Declaration of Independence?
Have no idea who the candidates are, their qualifications or lack thereof, and what policies they would support in office?
Vote for a Presidential Candidate based solely on a bit of propaganda they saw on TV, and/or is simply the more physically attractive?
Suppose we passed a simple law: You can register to vote at your local BMV branch. To get your voting card, you must meet the following criteria -
Prove you are over 18 and a citizen of the United States
You have no felony convictions
You pass a 10-minute exam, proving you understand the fundamentals of your country's government. It takes an 80% to pass. If you fail, you may return and take it again in 6 months.
In English only.
Here's a great idea - when you're registered to vote, the voter registration authorization is indicated on your drivers license. One picture ID takes care of it all. It also indicates in what precinct you are registered. If you don't have a drivers license, then you can be issued a free voter registration id card with your picture.
Then at the polls, you will just be required to show your ID and sign in before voting.
This solves all the problems of voter fraud and guarantees that all voters at least have a clue about their representative government.
I know, Democrats will call this racist. But I say they're the racists, because in the very process of calling this very common-sense approach racist, they are proving a condescending attitude toward racial minorities that assumes they are incapable of passing a simple test. I say it's racist to denigrate any racial minority so egregiously.
The cynic in me says that the real reason Democrats would oppose this simple plan has nothing to do with race. I think reason is, for decades, they have been cheating at the polls. Stories abound of vanloads of people driving from precinct to precinct on election day, handed a new identity for each polling place of someone the party activists already know is dead or has moved away, but was never purged from the voter rolls.
Many stories as well exist about Democrat activists seeking out and registering illegal aliens, then giving them rides to the polls to cast their illegal votes. Same goes for convicted felons.
Do Republicans cheat in their own ways? Probably. The most credible story I've heard on that side is about Republican operatives taking vans to nursing homes and loading up Alzheimer's patients to take to the polls, where the operatives "assist" them in pulling the straight Republican lever.
Both parties are often accused of buying votes. "Go in and vote for (Insert Candidate Name Here), and I'll give you 20 bucks." Last time around, a Democrat activist got caught handing out crack in return for votes. I wonder how they know for sure that the person they just bribed actually voted they way they wanted - it seems that some might vote for the other candidate just for grins. There's no way I know of to confirm any specific vote cast in the booth, as far as I know.
I'm suggesting that this simple solution eliminates all that voter fraud, and keeps the most profoundly ignorant out of the voting booth.
What's wrong with that?
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