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Take the Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Gave Black Voters in the 1960s
Slate ^ | June 28, 2013

Posted on 06/29/2013 6:30:34 PM PDT by Wellington VII

This week’s Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder overturned Section 4(b) of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which mandated federal oversight of changes in voting procedure in jurisdictions that have a history of using a “test or device” to impede enfranchisement. Here is one example of such a test, used in Louisiana in 1964.

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History
KEYWORDS: ballotlanguage; democratscandals; disenfranchisedvoter; howtostealanelection
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To: Yossarian

>> What? Huh?

Yeah, we engineers suck at this sort of thing. We don’t sort potatoes very well, either, as the joke goes. Hell, we can’t even agree on the *spelling* of potato(e).

Anyway, you don’t need to be taking time away from designing microprocessors for something as silly as *voting*.

:-)


81 posted on 06/29/2013 7:07:49 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: Wellington VII

#23 “Draw a shape that is square and then divide it in half by drawing a line from the northeast corner to the southeast corner and then divide it again by drawing another line from the western to the eastern edge.” Huh? Are we talking about IMAGINARY compass points, or does your answer depend upon your actual location in a room?


82 posted on 06/29/2013 7:07:54 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: doorgunner69

Yeah, I’m sure you’d like to make it so only boomers vote.


83 posted on 06/29/2013 7:08:29 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge ("we are pilgrims in an unholy land")
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To: Westbrook

I think that’s a straight line, but I vote anyway.


84 posted on 06/29/2013 7:10:51 PM PDT by morphing libertarian
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To: impimp

>> Did you read the test? ONE wrong and you fail.

Yes, so Slate says. That’s pretty onerous.

The test itself, or the grading scale, isn’t as important as whether or not ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE has to take it, or not.

If it’s only blacks that have to take it, then regardless of the content, it’s unfair.

If EVERYONE has to take it, and if there’s a non-arbitrary answer key, an overly burdensome test will soon be objected ot of existence.


85 posted on 06/29/2013 7:10:55 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: cripplecreek

This test would be disallowed today just because it asks the testee to draw a CROSS. Why not a crescent and star? Or, a 6 pointed Star.


86 posted on 06/29/2013 7:11:03 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: johniegrad

We gain illiterate people in Congress. Evidence Shelia Jackson Lee, John Conyers, and others.


87 posted on 06/29/2013 7:12:01 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Inside every liberal and WOD defender is a totalitarian screaming to get out.)
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To: JCBreckenridge

Had trouble with the test, didn’t you?


88 posted on 06/29/2013 7:12:44 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: DoorGunner; JCBreckenridge

>> Yeah, I’m sure you’d like to make it so only boomers vote.

Hey doorgunner — do you think there’s a way we could really pull that off?

As a bonus, I wonder if we could pass a law making it legal to shove their smartphones up their gen-x/millenial butts. What do you think? Possible?


89 posted on 06/29/2013 7:14:42 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: doorgunner69

>> Had trouble with the test, didn’t you?

;-)


90 posted on 06/29/2013 7:15:28 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

>> We gain illiterate people in Congress. Evidence Shelia Jackson Lee, John Conyers, and others.

As screwed up as the house can be... how about that SENATE? I mean, c’mon... AL FRANKEN? KEVIN ELLERMAN? BARBARA BOXER??!?

It’s a money club, not a book club for sure.


91 posted on 06/29/2013 7:17:18 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: Jim Noble

Seriously, are we trying to argue that this test was NOT designed to keep blacks from voting? We know that the voting rights act should no longer apply today, but are people here arguing that blacks were NOT disenfranchised when the VRA was first passed?


92 posted on 06/29/2013 7:17:50 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Its northeast to southwest. Just like the compass points are on a map. Northeast would be the top, right corner of a square.


93 posted on 06/29/2013 7:17:58 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: Westbrook
Isn’t a line the shortest path between two points?

It's a straight line, is the shortest distance between two points.
94 posted on 06/29/2013 7:18:32 PM PDT by redheadtoo
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To: Wellington VII; a fool in paradise

I don’t know if they still do it, but at one point Scientologists invited people off the street to come to their offices and take free IQ tests. We could hire the Scientology organization to test the IQ of voters before they were allowed to vote. Scientologists would probably agree to do it for free, at it would drum up business for them. What better example of government - private industry cooperation for the good of the nation!


95 posted on 06/29/2013 7:18:38 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: cripplecreek

My thoughts exactly. A dumb test to give, but not hard at all. Of course, for the dimwits over at Slate, it might cause a short-circuit.


96 posted on 06/29/2013 7:18:56 PM PDT by rlmorel (Silence: The New Hate Speech)
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To: jaydee770

>> Maybe someone could clue me in...

I think Slate’s point is, the fact that they tested blacks in LA this way fifty years ago means that every black person should be given two votes now, to compensate.

Oh, and if you’re not black, slap yourself hard in the face. Cracka.


97 posted on 06/29/2013 7:21:30 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: af_vet_rr
If you were a Black person in Louisiana in the 1960s, it might not be so easy. The Democrats did an amazing job of keeping Blacks suppressed.

Did?

Rachel Jeantel could not answer a question on that test.

98 posted on 06/29/2013 7:21:58 PM PDT by Fightin Whitey
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To: SoothingDave

I think that’s what it means, but one could argue that the person taking the test should use the actual coordinates in the room where they are sitting. IOW, what if his chair is facing west?

And how about the question asking the applicant to write the word VOTE upside down but in the right order? That just seems stupid and a deliberate attempt to cause the applicant to fail. It has no correlation to understanding the ballot.


99 posted on 06/29/2013 7:22:35 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: sakic
A box is typically a square. A line around a letter could certainly be a circle.

Yeah, I thought about that. Either way it's kind of a trick question don't you think?

100 posted on 06/29/2013 7:22:57 PM PDT by Bullish (Psalm 46)
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