A few weeks ago, John Kavanagh, a Republican legislator who chairs Arizona’s Government and Elections Committee, made waves when he said voting really shouldn’t be for everyone.
“There’s a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans,” he told CNN. “Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote — but everybody shouldn’t be voting … Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues. Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.”
Kavanagh may be onto something …“everybody shouldn’t be voting.” He’s right, but for the wrong reason.
We should want fewer people voting not because that would reduce fraud, but we should want to reduce the number of uninformed citizens from voting!
I have long been in favor of some type of national civics test before allowing someone to exercise his or her right to vote. Just like potential drivers first have to demonstrate they know the rules of the road by passing a written test, so should citizens show their knowledge of American history and our political system before being allowed to vote.
As David Harsanyi wrote in the Washington Post a few years back, “By weeding out millions of irresponsible voters who can’t be bothered to learn the rudimentary workings of the Constitution, or their preferred candidate’s proposals or even their history, we may be able to mitigate the recklessness of the electorate.” He added, “If you have no clue what the hell is going on, you also have a civic duty to avoid subjecting the rest of us to your ignorance.”
Of course, this will never happen!
A test to weed out ignorant voters would, no doubt, run up against calls of governmental bias in setting up such a test in the first place. And, anyway, too many politicians depend on clueless voters to wield and secure their power.
Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the uninformed, the misinformed and the disinformed will someday want to brush up on their civics or just voluntarily abstain from voting.
Unfortunately, that’s highly unlikely.
We may forever be stuck with bad governance and an American populace where only 40% can pass a basic multiple choice U.S. citizenship exam.
Photo | abcnews.go.com
Question … could Senator Tuberville pass the citizenship test?
Seriously doubt it!
For many years I’ve thought about requiring some sort of civics test before people can vote; in fact I think I briefly mentioned the idea in a comment on a previous post.
But I saw some of the same problems you have.
There is of course the issue of who makes the test? How do we make certain it’s not biased? And if it’s unbiased today, will it still be unbiased when it’s revised by the next administration?
There’s also the factor that voters aren’t required to vote on everything on their ballot. I’ve had times where there’s something I don’t believe I have enough information on to make an informed decision, or on which I’m undecided, and will leave that proposition/elected position blank. What if I was required to know information on that to vote on anything?
A related issue to the above is what if I’m voting for something like road commissioner. Is it really important that I know things like the amendments to the U.S. Constitution to vote on that? And if I do know constitutional issues, does that qualify me to vote for my local road commissioner?
So as much as I’d like voters to be informed, I don’t support such a test. Now, schools teaching students how to interpret and check information they hear and read, how to recognize scams, how to pick out invalid arguments, etc., that I fully support.
Great observations!
Have to laugh when I read commentary on should vote or who should not…It’s like saying who is better indoctrinated into the system as it stand’s and who is not…this does not promote original thinking we need to move forward into making…deceisons that will enhance the government to be a better government..If we are going teach anything at all it needs to be common sense…like lift the seat when you piss and clean up the mess so when the next family using the rest room…it doesn’t 10 minutes to figure out you can either stand up or sit down with out ramifications of dification on your clothes or underwear…and forget to was h your hands..because your so pissed off.