this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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150
More than a million adults have legal guardians. In seven states, they can't vote. (www.motherjones.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 months ago (7 children)

If you have someone making life choices for you does it not make sense that you shouldn't be allowed to vote? Someone has successfully made an argument you aren't fit to run your own life. Not sure why they should be allowed to affect the lives of others. I'm not sure what the difference is, at least in some cases, between people with a guardian and children <18 y/o. And IDK of many clamoring to lower the voting age.

If you want to argue that guardian and/or conservatorships are misused far too often then I'm with you on that.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 6 months ago

Guardianships are very often for severe physical disabilities with no intellectual imparement. Those people can't vote either.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Funny how Americans treat owing a gun an inalienable right, but voting is a privilege that could be taken off more easily than 'The Second'

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago

I'm game for not letting people capable of basic life choices to either, to be honest.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Daily reminder that the average 15 year old is smarter than the average 70 year old by literally any psychometric standard.

[–] h3rm17 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Smarter maybe, but wiser?

[–] vaultdweller013 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Crapshoot, wisdom is aquired via both length of experience and breadth of experience. There is no way to objectively measure either, though id probably trust the wisdom of a 15 year old who fucks up constantly over that of some 70 year old yuppie who hasnt done anything stupid since the 70s.

[–] h3rm17 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well, that's true, but the hormones of a 15 year old impair their wisdom. Unless there is significant cognitive deterioration a 70 year old would have no problem with that.

And, I'd bet on average the 70 year old has more weslth, breadth and length of experience. Pulling it 100% out of my ass though, no data to back it up.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

“Wisdom” in this case meaning the prejudices accumulated over a lifetime? According to research, an average septuagenarian is more narcissistic, less literate, more bigoted, and less intelligent than the average teenager. Sometimes by multiple standard deviations. (I can provide sources).

Couple the Flynn effect with lead poisoning and you have a gap of almost 30 IQ points in some areas of the country.

By the way, have you ever seen an old person’s brain in an MRI? It’s missing like 20% of its volume.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Lead poisoning is a real bitch

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

15 year olds have much less knowledge.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago

This implies the people handing out these conservatorship judgements are infallible, which they aren't.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

If they submit a properly completed voting document, their vote should count. (It should also be easy to vote.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Judges, at least in my area, are increasingly explicitly listing which rights are being taken and which rights remain with the individual. For example, financial concerns or driving may be directed to the guardian but the individual still has the right to get married. I would hope that voting would be one of those line items.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

If you have someone making life choices for you does it not make sense that you shouldn’t be allowed to vote?

As with the disenfranchisement of felons and inmates, there is a perverse incentive to put people you don't want to vote into conservatorship.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

So this is an interesting one for me. I worked with mentally handicapped adults for years, and here in texas at least, if they were able, they could vote.

What happened often was that they voted for who their caretakers insinuated they should vote for, and were taken advantage of in that regard. It wasnt what they wanted, they just did what they were told.

But, to counter that point, the same thing happens to perfectly compitent adults through societal pressures, cultural influence, and media coverage. It may not be what they really want to vote for, but these influnces direct their vote.

Its been established that poll restrictions based on literacy are unconstitutional since 1965. But there is some nuance. Where is the line drawn for disadvantaged or mentally handicapped adults? Convincing chuck, 35 and on a 4th grade reading level, to agree with me and vote how i want is one thing. physically guiding the hand of and checking a box for sharon, a 40 year old with the mind of an infant, seems to be two different parts of a spectrum that blur the line between acceptable and immoral. Its fairly easy to distinguish those extremes, but there is in fact a line somewhere in between.