[EM] Voting Requirements

[Dan Bishop]

Raph Frank wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 8:09 AM, Greg Nisbet <gregory.nisbet at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Breaking a bit with voting methods, I would like to bring up another
>> issue regarding one's ability to influence politics: suffrage.
>>
>> As the only one here not legally qualified to vote, I must express
>> dissatisfaction with the status quo.
>>
>> There were several historical requirements for being able to vote:
>>
>> 1. Citizenship
>> 2. Residency
>> 3. Age
>> 4. Criminal Record
>> 5. Sex
>> 6. Race
>> 7. Class (arbitrary non-race inherited characteristics)
>> 8. Wealth
>>
>> Half of these requirements are gone, only the first four remain.
>>
>> I disagree with 3 and 4 (and to a lesser extent 1 and 2).
>>     
>
> I agree with you on 4 (Criminal Record).  If criminals are having an
> effect on the voting system, then you have to [sic] many people in prison.
No, it simply means that your elections are /that/ close. If, 
hypothetically, an election with nearly 6 million voters came down to 
nearly 537 votes, it would be absurd to argue that that should require 
the prison population to be brought down to 536 or less.