[S.B.Nichols]

Originally Posted by Bryan

...Stop listening to your confederate buddies....

I'm not entirely sure why, but I find that a little insulting...

[thesteve]

Originally Posted by jesus_for_me

see like I said. there were people who shouldn't have voted due to their lack of understanding of the constitution.according to the constitution only americans can run. and here we had a bunch of people voting for a kenian.according to the constitution those people shouldn't have bin aloud to vote.

So you aren't going to answer my question, you're just going to dodge it.

[Ax]

Umm... If you're trying to speak something for truth, as an adult, and want to be taken seriously, then you should think about writing like an adult. It's really hard to take somebody seriously when they can't capitalize proper nouns, start sentences with 'see', and don't use a space after a period.

I'm all for making it legal to prove basic knowledge of which candidate is supporting which position, but there are reasons that it is not now. It is however NOT banned by the constitution or an amendment to the constitution (however poll taxes were banned).

Little history lesson:

After the slaves were released at the end of the civil war, the new black community, now freed, needed it's rights guaranteed so the fifteenth amendment was passed allowing voting regardless of race. So, since the southern states really weren't too keen on black rights at the time, and most former slaves couldn't read or write, they found a legal loophole for keeping black voters from voting... they made taxes and tests, and to ensure (because many whites couldn't pass it either) that whites could vote, they made the grandfather law (if your grandfather could vote, so could you), and it worked brilliantly in favor of the the southern white men who were afraid of losing their control. Eventually these were gotten rid of state by state and were made illegal in most states, some states who didn't need said laws, however, do not have these laws on the books...

However, in a more modern sense, race makes little difference on education so I think this would actually be a good idea, however, this would be a test to prove knowledge of a candidates' stance, rather than asking a mathematical problem (actually done in former tests).

[JerryLove]

Originally Posted by AX

After the slaves were released at the end of the civil war, the new black community, now freed, needed it's rights guaranteed so the fifteenth amendment was passed allowing voting regardless of race. So, since the southern states really weren't too keen on black rights at the time, and most former slaves couldn't read or write, they found a legal loophole for keeping black voters from voting... they made taxes and tests, and to ensure (because many whites couldn't pass it either) that whites could vote, they made the grandfather law (if your grandfather could vote, so could you), and it worked brilliantly in favor of the the southern white men who were afraid of losing their control. Eventually these were gotten rid of state by state and were made illegal in most states, some states who didn't need said laws, however, do not have these laws on the books...

However, in a more modern sense, race makes little difference on education so I think this would actually be a good idea, however, this would be a test to prove knowledge of a candidates' stance, rather than asking a mathematical problem (actually done in former tests).

The questions were generally different for black voters than white ones (white illiteracy was high as well).

[Ax]

Originally Posted by JerryLove

(white illiteracy was high as well).

Yes it was, however, most whites did not have to take it because of the Grandfather law. It's literally where we get the term "grandfathered in".

[jesus_for_me]

Originally Posted by thesteve

Just out of curiosity though, what level of political understanding would you say is necessary for someone to have in order to have the right to vote?

simply to understand how and why the constitution exists.what it is for. and what laws it allows and doesn't allow to be made.

[S.B.Nichols]

You realize that law would be unconstitutional, right, meaning by your own definition, you wouldn't be allowed to vote. Just saying...

[mulletman]

Indeed. Ironic, isn't it?

[Fandrew]

I wasn't completely sure how this thread started, but I'm convinced it's going nowhere now.