Would you have been able to vote in 1960s-era Louisiana?

[Phelia]

All you have to do is pass a simple literacy test! You have ten minutes, and if you get even one question wrong, the registrar could declare you an illiterate failure and deny you your right to vote. If you think it looks difficult, don't worry. There's a trick to it - be a white person.

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From the accompanying Slate article:

The literacy test—supposedly applicable to both white and black prospective voters who couldn’t prove a certain level of education but in actuality disproportionately administered to black voters—was a classic example of one of these barriers.

[...]

Designed to put the applicant through mental contortions, the test's questions are often confusingly worded. If some of them seem unanswerable, that effect was intentional. The (white) registrar would be the ultimate judge of whether an answer was correct.

GL!

 

[bronzeage]

No. I was 14 in 1970, so I couldn't have voted in the 60's.

 

[KRCummings]

I was born in 1968 in Ohio so no.

 

[Phelia]

You guys are quitters. Couldn't you have at least tried to be born decades earlier in an arbitrary state of my choosing?

Kids these days.

 

[phrodeau]

"30. Draw five circles that one common inter-locking part."

Whoever wrote the test should be disqualified.

 

[unregistered]

 

[bronzeage]

Down in "Looosianna" they wanted to make sure that Bronzeage's parents had an IQ of at least 50.

My father had a PhD in Civil Engineering and my mother has a Bachelor's degree in Textile Design.

I'm sure you inherited your sense of humor from your parents.

 

[bronzeage]

You guys are quitters. Couldn't you have at least tried to be born decades earlier in an arbitrary state of my choosing?

Kids these days.

I was born in Panama. I'm not sure they even have elections there.

 

[Phelia]

"30. Draw five circles that one common inter-locking part."

Whoever wrote the test should be disqualified.

No, I think that's perfectly fair. If you want to vote, you have to be able can read.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Down in "Looosianna" they wanted to make sure that Bronzeage's parents had an IQ of at least 50.

You miss teh "good ole days", don't you.

Sadly for a racist fuckweasel like you, even though the Supreme Court declared racism to be over when they gutted the Voting Rights Act, you likely won't live long enough to see Jim Crow II put in place.

 

[dan_c00000]

Down in "Looosianna" they wanted to make sure that Bronzeage's parents had an IQ of at least 50.

So you failed at question 1?

 

[IrezumiKiss]

My father had a PhD in Civil Engineering and my mother has a Bachelor's degree in Textile Design.

I'm sure you inherited your sense of humor from your parents.

 

[cjh]

You miss teh "good ole days", don't you.

Sadly for a racist fuckweasel like you, even though the Supreme Court declared racism to be over when they gutted the Voting Rights Act, you likely won't live long enough to see Jim Crow II put in place.

pat buchanan says he's not a fuckweasel. so there.

 

[IndieSnob]

Down in "Looosianna" they wanted to make sure that Bronzeage's parents had an IQ of at least 50.

Says the guy who is always screaming LEVIATHAN, but if asked to discuss Hobbes, he'd call you a benighted and sanctimonious puss while running off to hide under koala's chair.

 

[bronzeage]

No, I think that's perfectly fair. If you want to vote, you have to be able can read.

The old joke goes:

The poll worker opens a law book to any random page and says, "Read this and tell me what it means."

The prospective voter looks at it and says, "It means I don't get to vote."

 

[cjh]

Says the guy who is always screaming LEVIATHAN, but if asked to discuss Hobbes, he'd call you a benighted and sanctimonious puss while running off to hide under koala's chair.

so we've moved from hayek to hobbes? :/

they should have stopped at locke.

 

[Sean]

so we've moved from hayek to hobbes? :/

they should have stopped at locke.

I'm pretty sure most of them didn't get past See Spot Run.