No, and voters should be required to pass a basic test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote

Any test designed to assess a voter's understanding of politics will be inherently biased and lead to biased elections.

No, you don’t have to be a genius or be educated in a specific field to understand who you feel should run things.

A lot of people would take the test to fail. People have the right to voice their opinion in politics no matter competence. Otherwise, they shouldn't have to pay taxes.

The idea of democracy is that everyone who is affected by the decisions should have a say in the decisions. You don’t need political knowledge to become a valuable voice. Even the voices of citizens that don’t understand politics matters. Such tests will favor the wealthy, the educated, and the historically advantaged and discriminate against the poor, the less educated (hey, some people couldn’t afford getting advanced education and had to choose to support their family members instead), and historically marginalized groups. Nevertheless, these voices still matter because…  Read more democracy isn’t just for the know-it-alls. It’s a decision making system that values the opinion of the groups most affected by it. These kinds of tests have a history of being abused in a discriminatory manner and has prevented people that are constitutionally entitled to vote just because of their biological characteristics: people of color, women, and now immigrants and young people that PAY TAXES AND ARE AFFECTED BY THE DECISIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT. When did the constitution start to allow age-based discrimination? Just the fact that a person is 13 years old doesn’t stop the person from understanding politics more than some 78-year olds. Teens can be passionate, educated, and thoughtful. Age itself isn’t a benchmark of qualification. Our founding father’s original idea was that people who are taxed should be represented. WE, the youth, pay taxes. No say, No pay. The constitution grants all people to participate in democracy, not just the wealthy. A “basic” test is subjective and is prone to abuse. If it’s TOO BASIC, then there will be no point to doing the test. If it’s TOO ADVANCED, it will favor the wealthy, not working or middle class Americans like US. Who wants to be controlled by your childhood classmates who knew all the important dates in history but nothing about people’s emotions and monetary environments? Until the government grants US, people under 18, full voting rights, we aren’t ideologically obliged to pay taxes nor follow laws created without our voices.

Lowering the voting age will allow more people to vote and a basic test is a waste of time as people have their own beliefs'.

This would be used for discrimination. I do not trust politicians to decide what is and isn't an "understanding of politics". Also, tests required to vote will always be marked by their past in the Jim Crow era.