They want to nudge us as we try to vote

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By HOWARD TROXLER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 24, 2001

The words "literacy test" hold a bitter memory for an older generation. Until the mid 1960s, several states used literacy tests, poll taxes and other devices to keep black citizens from voting.

Alabama, for example, used a complicated system of voter registration that was changed four times between 1964 and 1965 to outfox the civil rights movement. The Alabama Department of Archives and History says that the state cooked up more than 100 different tests, chosen at random for each voter so it would be impossible to study.

This nonsense ended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nobody got to decide who was "fit" and "unfit" anymore.

Now, in 2001, the state of Florida is being sued anew because of our state's latest election "reform" law. One part of the law requires a sign at polling places telling voters, among other things, that they have the responsibility to "study and know candidates and issues."

Does this warning smack of a modern "literacy test"? That's the claim of a group called the Florida Equal Voting Rights Project (which includes the ACLU). The group calls it a subtle intimidation, more likely to discourage minority voters. The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the law.

Frankly, this argument feels a little thin. The bland urging that voters be "informed" is apple pie stuff. Nobody has to take a test. No voter is going to walk in, see the sign and say, "Oh, no, now I am too scared to vote!"

And yet this innocent-sounding language is a bad idea for other reasons.

First, it is stupid.

Second, what goes on in the voter's mind is none of the government's business, no way, no how. I don't care if somebody goes in there and votes by flipping a coin or throwing darts. That is their right, and it is not my business nor your business and it is certainly not the business of elected politicians as to whether they have properly "studied" to suit us.

(By the way, before we divide ourselves sharply into We Informed, Smart Voters and Those Ignorant, Uninformed Voters, you tell me, you SWEAR to me that you've never walked in and looked at the ballot and realized that you knew zip about a Mosquito Control District election or every one of umpteen candidates for School Board.)

Third and most important, as innocent as "be informed" sounds, it is a scary precedent. Now that the Legislature and the rest of the state government claims the right to step into the voting booth and instruct voters on proper behavior, it is a short and easy step down the road of good intentions as to how we should next "help" or "educate" them.

Do you trust the government not to venture further into this neutral territory?

Remember that the worm always turns. This time at bat, it is the Republicans posting the signs and the Democrats complaining. If you are a Republican, you might be thinking, "Good grief, these idiots couldn't even vote right the last time. This HELPS them."

But, my Republican brothers and sisters, picture the shoe on the other foot. Imagine Democrats in your City Hall, or your County Commission, or even back in charge of state government one day. Imagine them armed with the precedent of posting messages in the voting booth to "help" voters.

Even Democrats who figure that a "be informed" sign is innocent, and that the government would not intrude further into neutral territory, should be reminded. Didn't you just get a letter from the "non-political" IRS, crediting the great George W. Bush for your upcoming refund? Doesn't the state of Florida give citizens who oppose abortion rights their own automobile license plate, while not providing the same forum to the other side?

Do not trust the government in the voting booth. Don't trust it. Don't. The government should be limited to posting specific instructions on the mechanics of voting. If the Legislature persists in harrumphing at voters to "be informed," then I propose a sign on each desk of the Legislature saying, "Same goes for you," which, come to think of it, would do just as much good, if not more.

-- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.

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