A Fox News segment with conservative columnist Ann Coulter on Wednesday discussed why the country would be better off if Americans had to pass so-called "literacy tests" similar to ones that were used in the Jim Crow South to suppress black voters.
After Fox News reporter Jesse Watters interviewed several New Yorkers who could not identify Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade observed that "studies show that Americans are poorly informed on government and politics."
"So, is it time to revisit a test for people to be able to vote?" he asked. "Does it bother you that your vote counts as much as somebody who does not know what's going on?"
"More than I can say," Coulter agreed. "I just think it should be, well for one thing, a little more difficult to vote. There's nothing unconstitutional about literacy tests. Instead, we have ballots being given in 124 different languages. And I'm pretty sure Senate debates will not be taking place in Urdu. So, what are they voting on?"
Under Coulter's proposed election rules, Democrats could "do all the vote theft they could get away with" but voting would be limited to 24 hours.
"If we want to build up civic education, what a great way to do it, to force people to understand what's going on before we allow them to vote," Kilmeade suggested.
"Until that happens, maybe we can check to see if they can name the vice president before letting them vote," Coulter quipped. "As for civic education, that usually means 12 more years of the Chinese-style propaganda in public schools, which only means you are dumber that someone who has not gone to school."
Accountability Project Executive Director Nomiki Konst pointed out that the 1965 Voting Rights Act made literacy tests illegal, but Coulter disagreed.
According to the conservative pundit, "fake literacy tests were used after the Civil War by Democrats to keep blacks from voting... Again, continuing the long tradition of Democratic vote theft."
"Is a completely ignorant voter better for the Democratic Party or the Republican Party? The Democratic Party," Coulter concluded.
Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast April 15, 2015.
