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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: SoothingDave

sdrawrof

Next?


41 posted on 06/29/2013 6:52:12 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: Westbrook

Draw a curve. It is implied by the word “around.”


42 posted on 06/29/2013 6:52:36 PM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: Wellington VII

Good thing the test isn’t in cursive. I would never pass.


43 posted on 06/29/2013 6:52:49 PM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: johniegrad

Some of the questions were unfair. Check # 29. What if one was dyslexic? A valid ID seems like childs’ play.


44 posted on 06/29/2013 6:53:27 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: Lancey Howard
it was sure a different country 50 years ago.

And the cures for our social ills were much worse than the problems. Yes?

45 posted on 06/29/2013 6:54:11 PM PDT by LouAvul (In a state of disbelief as to how liberals destroyed America in a mere 40 years.)
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To: af_vet_rr

Fair enough. Not much different from today, too.


46 posted on 06/29/2013 6:54:12 PM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: Jim Noble

Spell backwards, forwards.

Sorry, i misquoted the test. Please answer.


47 posted on 06/29/2013 6:54:24 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: sakic

>> I would bet a lot of money (if only there was a way to prove it) that less than half of America could take the test and get none of it wrong.

And after the last twenty years or so, I’m BEYOND willing to believe that less than half of America ought to be voting. :-)

Anyway, did I miss the passing score part? What sort of score did you need to pass this thing? I’ll go back and look.


48 posted on 06/29/2013 6:54:27 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)
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To: the OlLine Rebel
Interesting test...the problem I have with it, it is a 10 minute test and one wrong answer out of 30 you fail... .967 % success rate is a failure ???

My guess quite a few intelligent people could easily get one answer wrong in the rush to make sure they finished in under ten minutes...20 seconds per answer...

I can only imagine a large percent any adult person in the 60's not passing this test..black or not...having white skin doesn't automatically make one "smart"

49 posted on 06/29/2013 6:54:49 PM PDT by Popman (Godlessness is always the first step to the concentration camp.)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

I don’t remember the passage in the Constitution where it states that a test score of 100% on any test being required as a qualification to vote. Perhaps you could point that passage out to me.


50 posted on 06/29/2013 6:54:50 PM PDT by sakic
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To: SoothingDave

That was a good one.

My answer would be... Backwards.

But some might say the answer is: SdrawroF


51 posted on 06/29/2013 6:55:04 PM PDT by Pikachu_Dad (Impeach Sen Quinn)
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To: cripplecreek

Bingo! Stalin (paraphrase): it does not matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes.


52 posted on 06/29/2013 6:55:23 PM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: Nervous Tick

No. We wanted you to spell the word “backwards” in the regular, forwards direction.

Sorry, you failed. Come back next year.


53 posted on 06/29/2013 6:56:22 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: piytar

I think that test was delilberately confusing and unfair. I would have gotten every answer right, but I know a lot of people (who are perfectly good voters) who would not. I do not know the point of some of those questions regarding voting — other than to confuse the reader. One question missed fails, and the testee gets only 10 minutes to complete.


54 posted on 06/29/2013 6:56:26 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: cripplecreek

Bingo! Stalin (paraphrase): it does not matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes.


55 posted on 06/29/2013 6:56:34 PM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: Bullish

A box is typically a square. A line around a letter could certainly be a circle.


56 posted on 06/29/2013 6:56:42 PM PDT by sakic
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To: sakic
Perhaps you could point that passage out to me.

Oh, ain't ya so clever!

57 posted on 06/29/2013 6:57:08 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Wellington VII

I would bet money that either that test was not really the test or that it was not typical.


58 posted on 06/29/2013 6:57:21 PM PDT by yarddog (Just another pretty face.)
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To: Nervous Tick
One wrong answer to the twisty questions takes away your right to vote. For example, I'm an electrical engineer, designing microprocessors, but even the first question threw me for a loop:

"Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence."

What? Huh? Is "a" a reference to a singularity, therefore is it to be meant in its "numeric" sense?

It is only after going back over it did I realize this was question #1, therefore the item to "draw a line around" was the index number preceding the sentence.

To take away your right to vote over this? B.S. I want qualified voters, but this tells me nothing about the ability to be a competent citizen.

59 posted on 06/29/2013 6:57:23 PM PDT by Yossarian ("All the charm of Nixon. All the competency of Carter." - SF Chronicle comment post on Obama)
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To: SoothingDave

Ok. So. Write forwards, backwards. . well, it seems they mean sdrawrof, but the lack of quotation marks to accentuate which word they want acted upon makes it look like having been written by an illiterate person.


60 posted on 06/29/2013 6:57:30 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (http://thegatwickview.tumblr.com/ -- http://thepurginglutheran.tumblr.com/)
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