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Originally Posted by OpieCunningham
It's not good enough to state "it's a right". What does that mean? It's automatic? But it's not. We already have a law designed to prevent unknowledgeable/unexperienced people from voting - the age law. 17 year olds are not allowed to vote because they are deemed without enough knowledge or experience to offer a valid judgement.
Simply stating "it is a right" is meaningless - it is a right to drive a car, but we still test people to ensure they have the knowledge and experience to do so without causing harm. It is a right to own a gun - but we don't just give them out to anyone who has the cash to pay for one. If these "rights" are capable of negatively impacting other people's lives, such as driving a car and owning a gun, they should be pre-qualified before being handed out. Voting is a right which, with a lack of knowledge and understanding, can negatively impact other people.
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As stated in my previous post, driving is a privilege, not a right. Voting rights, which apply to most ADULTS (children have all kinds of rights denied from them...a minority of states denies voting to felons), is a different matter altogether.
Any criteria for voting designed by a human will be imperfect and subjective. At one time it was thought that only propertied males had the mental faculties necessary for voting. This arrogant idea, and many others like it, has been proven to be harmful and undemocratic. Any return to a exclusionary voting system would be a giant step back for this nation and ignores the perils of such a system that history makes very clear.