Sports television/radio personality Stephen A. Smith lashed out on Friday at presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over his idea for a voting requirement.
Appearing on CNN, he was asked by host Abby Phillip about Ramaswamy’s proposal of a constitutional amendment that’d require young voter wannabees to either pass a civics test or serve half a year in the military in order to earn the right to vote.
Ramaswamy proposed the idea in May.
Listen:
“We want to restore civic duty in the mindset of the next generation of Americans. And how we want to do it is to say that if you want to vote as an 18-year-old — between the ages of 18 to 25 — you need to either do your civic duty through service to the country,” he said.
“That’s six months of service in either military service or in a first responder, including police, fire, or otherwise — or else you have to pass the same civics test that an immigrant has to pass in order to become a naturalized citizen who can vote in this country. At age 25, that falls away. So, in a nutshell, what we’re proposing is a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age to 25,” he added.
Confronted about this idea by Phillip on Friday, Smith literally said “hell no.”
“No. Excuse my language, hell no. This is America, and the reality of the situation is, last time I checked, you know, there isn’t a draft taking place to compel you to serve your country. It would be nice if everybody wanted to do it, but in America, you have the freedom to do otherwise,” he said.
“And as far as I’m concerned, to have some a kind of constitutional amendment that requires you to serve in that capacity, a capacity that he deems fitting, I think, is a bit self-serving at this particular moment in time, because he’s an individual that’s obviously running for the presidency of the United States, and that’s going to ingratiate him with folks on the right,” he added.
Smith meant that many, many, many on the right support adding a constitutional amendment requiring, at the very least, a civics exam to vote.
Listen:
“I certainly don’t agree with that, but I understand why he’s doing it. Because there are folks, voters on the right that that’s going to sway them to some degree. And right now, I think we’re living in an age where we see politicians, particularly when you’re on the campaign trail, you’re willing to say whatever you believe will carry votes. And I think this is one of those examples,” Smith continued.
“I’m not saying he does or doesn’t. I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. I’ve never talked to him. But the bottom line is I find it very, very difficult to believe that you would just come out of your mouth and say something like that as a potential elected official in the year 2023 unless you believed it was going to work favorably for you in getting votes,” he concluded.
Responding to the segment on Twitter, CNN viewers were quick to side with Smith.
Look:
I bet the guy leading the Republican Party couldn’t pass a 5th grade history test.
— Paula Grainger (@Graing18) September 2, 2023
Sure thing, Viv…as soon as people have to pass ethics tests and psychological tests to prove no narcissistic tendencies before running for office.
— adventuresofmurray (@adofmurray) September 2, 2023
Just ignore him.
He already failed the civics test.#ViviRamaLamaDingDong is just hoping to replace Trump on the ticket (and not as his running mate).— Observer2952 (@observer2952) September 2, 2023
Even if it were a good idea, it would be unconstitutional. (Literacy tests were once used to prevent Black voter registration in the South.) Like Trump, he’s not bothered by inconvenient facts, law or history.
— Kevin Snapp (@kevin_snapp) September 2, 2023
This idea of requiring a civics exam to vote has, in fact, been popular with conservatives for years on the basis that it’d help root out ignorant people who frankly shouldn’t be voting in the first place.
The only catch is that, according to a study conducted in 2021, the vast majority of current U.S. citizens would easily fail if forced to take the same civics test as immigrants who apply for citizenship.
“Only 42 percent of respondents received a passing score on the survey, with those claiming to be independent of party affiliation making up the majority. Republicans, 44 percent of whom passed the test, slightly outperformed Democrats, only 35 percent of whom passed,” National Review reported at the time.
In fairness, there were some slight differences between the survey questions and the questions on the civics test for immigrants.
“The survey, comprising 20 questions, was derived from the study guide of 128 questions published by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) recommended for prospective citizens,” National Review notes.
“While the real citizenship test is administered verbally, requiring spoken responses, the survey was administered virtually in multiple-choice format with no time limit. The real test has ten questions, with six correct answers (60 percent) needed to pass. The model survey asks 20 questions, with 12 correct answers (also 60 percent) needed to pass.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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