Here's their new target audience:
Posted on 11/02/2002 9:20:39 AM PST by HighWheeler
New Mexico to decide if "idiots" can vote
Fri Nov 1, 1:04 PM ET
By Zelie Pollon
SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - New Mexico voters will decide on Tuesday whether they want "idiots" and "insane persons" to vote in their state.
Under the state's Constitution, drafted in 1912, "idiots" and "insane persons", as well as those "convicted of a felonious or infamous crime" are currently prohibited from voting.
Proposed Amendment 2 on the November 5 ballot would strike the terms "idiots" and "insane persons" from the Constitution. The measure will better reflect current understanding of mental health and remove archaic language, supporters said.
"There are so many varieties of mental illness with people who are perfectly capable of making a decision," said Bureau of Elections official Denise Lamb.
"I'm more worried about unstable people with guns than I am about unstable people voting," Lamb said.
The same type of amendment, with different wording, was on the ballot once before in the mid 1990s but did not pass because voters interpreted the wording as denying people a right to vote," Lamb said.
"I think it's good to bring your Constitution more in line with reality," she said.
The state's nonpartisan research group, Legislative Council Services, said the arguments in favour of the amendment are that it will remove wording that is "archaic, offensive and meaningless from the list of people ineligible to vote."
"The terms 'idiots' and 'insane persons' may not have been considered offensive in 1912, but today they are an embarrassment," the group said in a guide to voters.
It said the opposing argument suggests that removing the terms "without replacing it with terms that more accurately reflect contemporary understanding of mental health may be too sweeping a change."
The proposed amendment also lowers the voting age from 21 to 18 years, bringing the voting age in compliance with federal requirements.
Early voter Kathleen MacRae said changing the language made sense to her.
"I'm for liberalising all voting laws. Voting should be open and easy for everyone," she said. "And God knows there are already a lot of idiots voting."
WTH do guns have to do with this? She just HAS to interject this comparitive in order to try to justify having a Dim social worker fill out the ballot of a mentally disturbed patient.
You mean whether or not to close the barn door? That horse escaped many years ago!
And why not? All the other 49 states have been letting idiots vote for as long as I can remember.
A teacher explains to her class that she is a liberal Democrat. She asks her students to raise their hands if they were liberal Democrats too.
Not really knowing what a liberal Democrat was but wanting to be liked their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks.
There is, however, one exception. A boy named Adam has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks him why he has decided to be different.
"Because I'm not a liberal Democrat."
"Then," asks the teacher, "what are you?"
"Why I'm a proud conservative Republican," boasts the little boy.
The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Adam why he is a conservative Republican.
"Well, I was brought up to trust in myself instead of relying on an intrusive government to care for me and do all of my thinking. My Dad and Mom are conservative Republicans, and I am a conservative Republican too."
The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly. "What if your Mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?"
A pause, and a smile. "Then," says Adam, "I'd be a liberal Democrat."
Personally, I fear more the latter than the former.
"And God knows there are already a lot of idiots voting."
Yes, that's true. They're registered Democrats (obligatory snipe).
...and I'm more worried about unstable people posing as "Bureau of Elections officials" defining "reality"...
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