u235

An article in the NY Times today addressed the issue of whether crazy people should be allowed to vote. Ok, that's not the nicest way to say it, but that summarizes the concept the most simply. But how do you define crazy?

Would most people say that someone who has been found "criminally insane" crazy? I think most people would. But for how long does that status apply? Ok the court agrees they were nuts when they killed someone, but should they get to vote? What about other people? Those with Alzheimer? People with Downs? People who, by law, are mandated to the care of a guardian or institution? Should those people get to influence elections?

This is actually a bigger issue today, with so many races being decided by a tiny percentage of the votes. One has to wonder what the right to vote actually means to someone who society has judged as incapable of being left to their own judgement.

Voting is supposed to be everyone's right and duty as a citizen. Putting aside the cocktards who don't vote because they don't care, is it fair to say that only "normal" people should be able to vote? If the only criteria is the ability to fill out a voter registration form, is that enough to be part of the machine that selects legislators at all levels, including local? If there were an extreme case, where lets say a small town had more patients in a mental institution than they did citizens, and those patients decided to elect one of their own as police chief, is that unfair? And to whom?

I'm not going to offer my own opinion here, but just these thoughts for consideration. At what point is someone who has been removed from society or who has their daily decisions handled by someone else a viable contributor? Where's the line and if there's any question as to their capacity, should they be allowed to vote?

On the other hand maybe it's a novel concept to use votes from the "non compos mentis" as a yardstick. Imagine the news reporting, instead of Red vs Blue, the number of people that voted like "a mass murderer" or "your crazy old uncle". There actually might be some utility in that.