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In reply to the discussion: Opinions of the mentally disabled/ill voting [View all]jwirr
(39,215 posts)11. The state I live in does not allow anyone who is under guardianship to vote. Thus one has to be
functional in order to be without a guardian and should be allowed to vote. There are some problems with this of course. Manipulation by people who want them to vote a certain way is one. But this also happens to the elderly - especially those in nursing homes. Regarding the state law it is assumed that anyone who can make major decisions for themselves can also know who will and will not help them politically.
My daughter is under guardianship so cannot vote but there is no one in this nation who is more affected by what out politicians do.
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If you're equating "mentally ill" with "mentally incompetent" your argument is already broken. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#1
And you're equating "mentally ill" with "conservative" so your argument's broken too. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#9
So you're making a slightly different stupid, stigmatizing argument. Nice. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#12
I suspect that you have never had the experience of dealing with a truly mentally ill person
slackmaster
Aug 2012
#46
That's a set of personality traits, not diagnostic of any recognized mental illness
slackmaster
Aug 2012
#54
Hell, just look at people in this thread treating "mentally ill" as one uniform group. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#69
The use of said opinion in this thread suggests it's uneducated, too. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#60
The state I live in does not allow anyone who is under guardianship to vote. Thus one has to be
jwirr
Aug 2012
#11
I have thought about that but have never pursued it because I think what you would see is a lot of
jwirr
Aug 2012
#42
I think "we" should clearly state why we think some people can, but not other people.
ZombieHorde
Aug 2012
#17
10 year olds can't vote because there is an age mandate in the Constitution. (nt)
OmahaBlueDog
Aug 2012
#35
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment guarentees the minimum age cannot be lower than 18
NoPasaran
Aug 2012
#55
Well in the case of my daughter - she is severely disabled and would be considered about 6 months
jwirr
Aug 2012
#43
I felt those Republicans pushing Dubya brother should never be allowed to help the mentally disabled
DisabledDem
Aug 2012
#59
I would love that but what would you do with my daughter who is totally incapable of making life
jwirr
Aug 2012
#49
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and one should get qualified legal advice pertaining to their state
OmahaBlueDog
Aug 2012
#58
Large swathes of this site treat the mentally ill as a hated monolith, so wouldn't surprise me. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#62
there are millions of people in all walks of life and from political persuasion who suffer some
Douglas Carpenter
Aug 2012
#39
And one more person on the "no clue what they're talking about" list. (nt)
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#68
Unfortunately in at least one small county in Iowa my brother and sister-in-law do not vote due to
jwirr
Aug 2012
#51
That would be a good way around dealing with the people running the show.
GreenPartyVoter
Aug 2012
#52
Yes they can. In my experience, getting someone declared incompetent is a very high legal hurdle.
slackmaster
Aug 2012
#65
A lot of people think "mentally ill" and "conservative" or "evil" or whatnot are synonymous
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#78
Yep. Should be going in that direction, instead of further restricting the franchise
Posteritatis
Aug 2012
#80