[IPAC-List] Voter Literacy "Tests"

[Reid Klion]

The recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act has led to
some interesting writing reviewing the history of voter suppression in
the South to include the use of literacy "tests" which were used (and
scored) at the discretion of local officials. I did a bit of digging
over the weekend on the topic. Here is a 1964 version from Louisiana
slate.me/11NOkTc . Not only did the voter have to get all the items
correct, there are also a few questions such as 21 and 27 that had no
clear cut answer and could always be marked as incorrect if the
registrar so desired bit.ly/1aWAlxA . Also, the concept of the
"grandfather clause" dates from this era; if someone were illiterate,
they were exempted from the test if they had a relative who had voted
prior to the Civil War. 

 

Reid

 

 

 

 

Reid E. Klion, Ph.D.

Chief Science Officer

pan -  Performance Assessment Network, Inc.

11590 North Meridian St. 

Suite 200

Carmel, IN 46032 USA

317.814.8808  Office

317.908.4312  Mobile

317.814.8888  Fax

rklion at panpowered.com

www.panpowered.com <http://www.panpowered.com/> 

 

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