Testing skills before voting ?

[Needacupofteaandcrackers]

Watching the recent horror show in White House. It made me wonder if there should be a basic comprehension test before people are allowed to vote ? I’m not talking about the 11+ test. Maybe just a couple of questions to confirm understanding

... Was Donald Trump being elected president something going right?!

Yes, democracy, whether anyone likes or or not

I don't understand - are you saying that if someone answered yes to that question they wouldn't be allowed to vote?

I think people might just see a way round your system.

What you're suggesting is contrary to universal suffrage. Disgustingly so.

Maybe the question should be “are you trained to design a question that confirms someone’s capacity to vote?” 🤔

Op, would you have posted this suggestion if the democrats had won?

It's undemocratic to have any test like this.

You're either a citizen (subject in UK) or you're not. People must be free to vote 'incorrectly', that's democracy.

We need more rules around disinformation, not restrictions on voting rights.

Maybe this ?

You’re being facetious with this post, but considering tests like this to “weed out” people with intellectual disabilities or mental health problems and deny them a vote were commonplace in many countries until recently, it’s not that funny.

Absolutely not.

Yes obviously it's a shame that very stupid people influence the vote. The remedy is for intelligent people to organise a more effective opposition and to engage more wholeheartedly in politics. To build a culture where every intelligent and capable person expects to spend some of their career in elected public office at some level at some point in their careers. The fact that most intelligent and capable people shy away from the populist media circus that politics has descended to is what keeps it being a populist media circus.

If the people that vote want a dihonest buffoon to lead the country then that is what they get. Oceans rise, empires fall, and in a few decades the decline and collapse of the USA/Western hegemony as a globally dominant force will be part of history books shelved alongside volunrs about the decline and collapse of previous global empires.

What about people with a learning disability, do they not get a say?

I think you're missing the point of the universal vote OP.

Or invest in education, early years programmes and strong social security network to make sure people from poor socioeconomic backgrounds (and, let's face it, these are the people you are calling stupid) aren't left behind. And also build a culture where every person (not just an intelligent and capable one) has an opportunity to engage with their community and governing structures at some point in their careers.

Well yes, but that would have to be step 2 because the the people who are voting aren't voting for that.

I think before any questions are designed people need to stop calling those that vote differently to themselves thick. You may not like the way they vote or the reason they vote for a particular party but that doesn't mean they are thick.

I would have thought having a certain level of cognitive function and understanding was essential for voting. Otherwise it would be ok for 6 or 12 year olds to vote

I don't agree the test or question the proposed, question feels very wide of the mark, but I can see the argument for some kind of test.

There is so much misinformation these days with social media. What I'd want to gauge is whether voters are able to critically examine the information they're being given and the outcomes of what their vote might lead to.

Are they very vulnerable to being misled? If so, that has potentially disastrous outcomes for the country.

But that's very hard! I think many of us would struggle to do that.

I think the solution is about cracking down on misinformation and deliberate misleading, but how you do that I have no idea m.

There is so much misinformation these days with social media. What I'd want to gauge is whether voters are able to critically examine the information they're being given and the outcomes of what their vote might lead to.
@biggreenapple24

How will you gauge whether voters are able to critically examine the information?

It made me wonder if there should be a basic comprehension test before people are allowed to vote?

You're assuming that people didn't understand what/who they were voting for. What if they did - and they just preferred it to the alternative?

The Democrats bear some responsibility for this mess. Many people were voting against their illiberal liberalism that didn't chime with their values.

You're suggesting a 'basic comprehension test'. Surely that's evident in people's ability to register to vote. Anything more would empower officials to exclude the 'wrong' sort of people. We all know where that leads.

"A lack of mental capacity is not a legal incapacity to vote: persons who meet the other registration qualifications are eligible for registration regardless of their mental capacity."

Only people who are detained in a psychiatric hospital after being found guilty of a criminal offence are considered not to meet registration qualifications to have sufficient capacity to vote.

That’s the whole point of democracy. Everyone’s vote and everyone’s reason for making it has equal legal validity. You can vote for the candidate with the nicest hair or the best dance moves if you want to.

You're missing the point. An adult is an adult, having a LD with the intellectual age of a 6yo is still eligible to vote. They need the support to access information to make a choice and to do the voting, but of course they should still be able to vote.

@tipsandtoes I can understand why people might think this way if they haven't really interacted with adults with a learning disability but there are a huge range of different people, most of whom have a "spikey" profile, meaning that they are much better at some things than others and therefore often appear less able than they are on a cognitive level. Some can't talk and others are unable to write but can express themselves in other ways and can learn new things and have opinions on what they like and dislike and how they want to live their lives. They will live their lives as second class citizens, perpetually treated like children because people don't understand. They all deserve the right to be heard and there is no reason why most would be prevented from doing this if the choices and information were presented in an accessible format. Blame the process not the people.

I agree with this but the implication of the OP that anyone who voted for Trump must have a LD is beyond extraordinary.

People are not as Tribal as OP thinks. Intelligent and GOOD people will have thought that Trump was a better option, as is their democratic right.

I think failing to understand this displays an extraordinary lack of intelligence.

Well exactly, it's basically impossible. And even if you could, I suspect a huge amount of us would fail. Politics is so complicated and non-straightforward.

No - democracy is that everyone eligible gets a vote, even if their opinions are horrific, even if they vote because they like the colour of the candidates jumper.

A lot of people self-select out too.

I think your issue is that you think Trump hoodwinked people into voting for him. He didn’t. People knew what he would be like and wanted that.

What...I thought some women had penises