The purpose of this essay is to critically discuss the issue of whether citizens should be made to undergo a political knowledge test before being allowed to cast their vote in elections. The essay will be considering this question from an international perspective, primarily focusing on The United States of America. The United States of America follow a democratic regime (Chou,2016), this essay will outline the effects this has on knowledge based tests on voting power for citizens. The research conducted from past legislation and case studies will contribute to the arguments for and against whether it is necessary to put this control in place and the factors that need to be considered.
CONTEXUAL BACKGROUND
In the past, primarily the southern …show more content…
These poll taxes were a means to weed out many of the poor African Americans, along with this ‘the greatest barriers to black suffrage remained the manipulation of literacy tests and the registration system itself’ (Cianci Salvatore, 2007, p.28). ‘In 1950, nearly 45 percent of southern blacks over the age of 25 had received less than four years of formal schooling’ (Cianci Salvatore, 2007, p.28), but were told that must receive near perfect results in order to be able to cast a vote. On August 6 1965, the USA imposed a new legislation the “Voting Rights Act”, this act was introduced to abolish the discriminatory test based voting system being utilized and also abolish all fees imposed on voting. (Ourdocuments.gov). It was established that this type of poll tax and pre-voting testing system discriminated against African Americans as a way to suppress their vote. The US Constitution Fifteenth Amendment, Section 1 now states: "The right of U.S. citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." (LII / Legal Information …show more content…
Ann Coulter a conservative pundit states; ‘I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote’. (Hagler, 2012). The site Debat.Org conducted a poll of Americas stating the question, should people in the US have to take a knowledge test before voting, 73% voted Yes while only 27% said No. The US is a democratic country and most voters in the country ‘remain ignorant, biased and misinformed’ (Brennan, 2016). In our current climate, it can be viewed that a person who passes a general knowledge exam on their countries current and passed affairs is a person who is truly engaged and interested in politics and the effects it has on their country. If there is an ill-educated citizen who doesn’t at least understand the issues plaguing their county, then there is little reason to then believe that they would make an appropriate intelligent decision regarding who to put in power and control of their county. CNN’s LZ Granderson a liberal columnist stated that; ‘If we weed out the ignorant voters, politicians will no longer feel the need to dumb down the conversation in hopes of getting their attention.’ A way to combat lack of civics education is to introduce a mandatory program which can be taught at school for future generations. The involvement of the youth of the country will be of great benefit as basic knowledge and understanding tends to lead to greater participation.
CONTEXUAL BACKGROUND
In the past, primarily the southern …show more content…
These poll taxes were a means to weed out many of the poor African Americans, along with this ‘the greatest barriers to black suffrage remained the manipulation of literacy tests and the registration system itself’ (Cianci Salvatore, 2007, p.28). ‘In 1950, nearly 45 percent of southern blacks over the age of 25 had received less than four years of formal schooling’ (Cianci Salvatore, 2007, p.28), but were told that must receive near perfect results in order to be able to cast a vote. On August 6 1965, the USA imposed a new legislation the “Voting Rights Act”, this act was introduced to abolish the discriminatory test based voting system being utilized and also abolish all fees imposed on voting. (Ourdocuments.gov). It was established that this type of poll tax and pre-voting testing system discriminated against African Americans as a way to suppress their vote. The US Constitution Fifteenth Amendment, Section 1 now states: "The right of U.S. citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." (LII / Legal Information …show more content…
Ann Coulter a conservative pundit states; ‘I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote’. (Hagler, 2012). The site Debat.Org conducted a poll of Americas stating the question, should people in the US have to take a knowledge test before voting, 73% voted Yes while only 27% said No. The US is a democratic country and most voters in the country ‘remain ignorant, biased and misinformed’ (Brennan, 2016). In our current climate, it can be viewed that a person who passes a general knowledge exam on their countries current and passed affairs is a person who is truly engaged and interested in politics and the effects it has on their country. If there is an ill-educated citizen who doesn’t at least understand the issues plaguing their county, then there is little reason to then believe that they would make an appropriate intelligent decision regarding who to put in power and control of their county. CNN’s LZ Granderson a liberal columnist stated that; ‘If we weed out the ignorant voters, politicians will no longer feel the need to dumb down the conversation in hopes of getting their attention.’ A way to combat lack of civics education is to introduce a mandatory program which can be taught at school for future generations. The involvement of the youth of the country will be of great benefit as basic knowledge and understanding tends to lead to greater participation.