Literacy Should Be Required To Vote Essay

There are constitutional requirements for a person to exercise suffrage. Observing at the situation of the nation, literacy should be added as a constitutional requirement for the exercise of suffrage. Through literacy, this can improve the quality and credibility of the election. Literacy means the ability to read and to write. It has a lot of political benefits. It can let people voice more democratic values. Because of this democratic value, people can give more importance of their votes.

According to the 2003 National, Assessment of Adult Literacy, conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, it showed that low literate adults are less likely to vote than strong readers. In addition, they can become more

However, the ability to read and to write is needed to vote. First, you need to read to follow the instructions and to elect the desired official. Second, you need to write in order to fill-up forms, to write your name, to affix your signature and to mark your desired official. No matter how aware and active you are, you cannot exercise your right to vote without these two abilities.

During elections, there are a lot of fraudulent acts. For example, a voter claimed that he received a pre-shaded ballot during the 2013 Philippine elections. Even in the first process which is the registration, there are registrations for non-qualified voters and disenfranchisement of qualified voters. During election days, there are stuffing of ballot boxes with fake ballots and misreading of ballots.5 With these illegal schemes, the illiterates can be one of the main targets because of their inability to read and fill-up the ballots.

Illiteracy rates are as high as 90% in most African and Asian countries. The privilege to vote of the illiterates is actually abused by those who are powerful. In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, the dictator, was elected again as the President of Zimbabwe during the 2013 Presidential Elections.6 He just won because Zimbabweans had no way to check his claims.6 As stated, they cannot check the facts because they simply do not know how to