Why Some People Should Not Vote
by Big Dog on Nov 24, 2008 at 18:06 Political
I am firmly convinced that some sort of literacy test should be required before people are allowed to vote. Now it does not have to be a tough test about civics (though maybe it should be) but a basic test to allow people to demonstrate basic literacy should be required.
The Minnesota Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman was so close that a mandatory recount kicked in thus allowing Democrats to find hundreds of ballots that mysteriously appear in car trunks or back seats. Before the recount began, Franken’s deficit was reduced by just such ballots.
The recount is now underway and the ballots being challenged demonstrate the stupidity of some people. The Minnesota law states that no identifying marks are allowed (so you can’t sign or initial it) and that only one vote per race may be cast. The ballots being challenged have signatures, stray marks, marks on the side of the paper, and any number of other features that invalidate the vote. I think all of them should be discarded in accordance with the law and that way there will be no squabbling over who the person intended to vote for. The only one I find valid is the one where a person’s fingerprint is seen (he must have gotten ink on his finger). A fingerprint is an identifying mark if one is on file but this is ridiculous. Everyone who handles a ballot puts fingerprints on it. The ones with erased entries should count as well.
The real tragedy here is that there are people who cannot follow simple instructions like “fill in the bubble.” That is straight forward and fairly simple but for some unexplained reason a number of people were unable to do just that.
I blame it on the school system. Tests in school use the same system of bubbles that must be filled in. Obviously the school system is not teaching children how to fill in bubbles and those children grow up to be adults who are bubble challenged.
I believe that people who show up to a polling place should have to demonstrate they can use the ballot before they can vote. In the case of Minnesota, people would have to fill in a bubble or two and show they are competent enough to do that simple little task. Those who cannot must leave and not return until they are proficient little bubble fillers.
There are also a number of ballots with stray marks on them. Perhaps the part about making “no stray marks” escapes these people or perhaps they really don’t want their ballots to count. Whatever the reason, those ballots should be discarded straight away and not fought over. If the voter was not bright enough to fill out the ballot correctly then it is not up to the judges to read their minds.
Come on folks, how tough is it to fill in a bubble? If you mess up then ask for another ballot so that you can get it right.
And to think, we let these people out in public unsupervised.
My friend Kender has this as his signature:
“Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups…especially on election day.”
I don’t know the author but truer words were never written…
You can see the ballots here.
Tags: ballots, bubbles, coleman, franken, minnesota, stupidity
That is basically why there were laws to restrict who could vote. Too many stupid people presume it was to keep women & blacks oppressed (and sadly in too many cases the laws were misused to to just that) but it was not since the restrictions also kept many white people from voting.
If you cannot read you are unlikely to have a knowledge of the issues and candidates necessary to make a sound decision on the candidate’s positions. If you don’t own property you don’t pay taxes (as income and sales taxes did not exist then) and you may not have a vested interest in the well being of the community. Also most people who could afford to own property were at least marginally educated and thus could read & do math enabling them to read up on the issues.