What test, specifically, do we implement to tell whether or not someone “know[s] the most basic of facts”?
How do we make sure that this test is kept up-to-date as information changes?
Who administers this test?
When is the test administered?
No matter how I try to answer these questions in a way that’s consistent with reality, all my ideas dead-end at outcomes that suck and only get worse over time.
As a point of comparison: in the US, southern racists used literacy tests (and similar approaches) to prohibit Black people from voting for several decades. Obviously current-day Romania is different from the US south 100 years ago, but it is worth considering some of these negative examples.
Combining the suggestions from 1 and 3 is where things fall apart for me. If the statute does not specify what objective standards must be met in order for someone to be eligible to vote, then the ruling party gets to decide on their own.
Maybe the next updates to the standardized test just “accidentally” favor the ruling party.
airbreather@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Some questions to challenge your proposal:
No matter how I try to answer these questions in a way that’s consistent with reality, all my ideas dead-end at outcomes that suck and only get worse over time.
mandarins@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Sergio@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
As a point of comparison: in the US, southern racists used literacy tests (and similar approaches) to prohibit Black people from voting for several decades. Obviously current-day Romania is different from the US south 100 years ago, but it is worth considering some of these negative examples.
airbreather@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Combining the suggestions from 1 and 3 is where things fall apart for me. If the statute does not specify what objective standards must be met in order for someone to be eligible to vote, then the ruling party gets to decide on their own.
Maybe the next updates to the standardized test just “accidentally” favor the ruling party.