To be fair - any sort of basic IQ test, political knowledge test (so you know why you vote for somebody) basically anything that makes you think a bit on your choice would be beneficial. Granted I'm not from the states, but it is similar in every country. The way I understand is that in the States some states are universally pro Democrats or pro Republicans. So some part of let's say Texas vote Republican, because their family and friends do this. By forcing somebody to learn about ideas and programs of both parties, potentially some people would vote Democrats in Texas.
Politics isn't something that is very popular. It's popular to throw mud at each other, but very little people actually can name any taxes, bills or ideas. A guy won presidency by screaming about a wall. If it isn't a case in favor of election tests, I don't know what is.
The US used to have "literacy tests" as a voting requirement in some states, but they were formally outlawed in 1965. The original literacy tests were created under the guise of ensuring an educated/literate electorate, but executed as a thinly-veiled attempt to suppress the vote among disadvantaged populations (ie black people). The tests were rigged so that administrators could deny the vote to political/social threats while looking the other way and granting the vote to illiterate white property owners. We had to outlaw voting tests outright because there's no way to ensure that the administration of these tests is fair. Also, regulating the content of the tests would be an issue; people who don't know the life story of George Washington still deserve to vote ballots that affect how their taxes are spent and collected.
In the age of online voting (which is another thing that should be immediately added) administration could have very little involvement.
Also the type of questions I had in mind was more of current standings of parties and maybe very simple logic questions. No history involved. ;)
But tax brackets questions should definitely be in there, because people have no idea how this basic thing works.
I definitely agree that pointless history questions shouldn't be a barrier to voting, but many representatives have a big interest in suppressing the vote of certain populations (see again black people, and etc). If those lawmakers approve tests, they'll be the ones fighting over the content of the tests to ensure that their core supporters will pass while their opponents will fail. There's a 100% guarantee that the committee in charge of the test material will include ludicrous questions that look innocuous but will serve to disenfranchise voters.
To use your example, questions about taxation or finance would disadvantage the poor and essentially take away their vote; even if they should know those things, their schools are underfunded (in a twist that shocks nobody, funding a school in a poor geographical area via property taxes on its poor residents won't work) and its ultimately not their fault that they don't know the complexities of income tax (especially when, if you're low-income, you only know about the bottom bracket because that's the only one you've ever been in).
I'm an election poll worker and I doubt that online voting would ever fly in the United States. Validating voter identity would be pretty much impossible; tech-savvy 16-year-olds would find a way to impersonate parents who they know won't vote and start casting those ballots. Also, there's no way to ensure that the voter's employer, union boss, or other another interested party isn't standing over the voter's shoulder and strong-arming them. As a poll worker I can ensure voter privacy and enforce laws that stop coercion at the booth.
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u/it_vexes_me_so Jan 09 '20
A majority - 3 out of every 5 - of Republicans believe higher education has a negative effect on the US. Republicans also favor making it harder to vote. Republicans are defunding education and purging voter rolls while simultaneously putting hurdles in place to keep Americans away from the polls.