Restrictions on Voting.
There have been attempts to regulate voting in a number of states over a period of a number of years. The principle effort, mostly conducted in Republican controlled states, has been to eliminate fraudulent voting (of which there seems to be none.) As a consequence of these restraints, fewer elderly and Black voters, and college students have been able to vote. Fox news has gone further today and suggested that there should be certain tests required, such as a civics test. I can personally attest to the difficulties of satisfying such requirements.
When I first attempted to register to vote in New York City a long, long time ago, I was told I had first to prove that I could read.
“Okay,” I said, “give me something to read.”
“Oh, no,” the registrar said in a tone that suggested I was trying to put something over on him. “You have to show your high school diploma.”
That was annoying since I had to go home and try to find the diploma. After about an hour, I gave up. But, luckily, I thought, I had my college diploma from Princeton. I took it and rushed back to the polling place.
“What is this?” the registrar said indignantly. “This isn’t English! I can’t read this!”
The diploma was written in Latin.
“This isn’t good enough,” the registrar said impatiently. (There was a line of other people waiting.)
“What are you talking about?” I said, losing my temper. “It’s a college diploma. From Princeton! Princeton doesn’t give degrees to anyone who can’t read.”
“How do I know what it says?” the registrar replied, throwing my diploma, which I had worked so hard to get, onto the floor.
“Look,” I said, picking it up and pointing. “It says Princeton University. And there’s my name in English.”
“That looks good enough to me,” commented an elderly man, who was first in line. The others on the line started to fidget and make noise.
“Give me a reading test, “I said. “I’ll read anything you got.”
“Forget it. You need a high school diploma.”
Luckily, there seemed to be a higher ranking official at the polling station. I appealed to him. He looked me up and down carefully. “He looks like he can read,” he concluded finally.
Later on, I thought that if I were a Negro (there were no “Blacks” in those days) I might have looked as if I could not read. If that was the only test for literacy.” (c) Fredric Neuman