May be subject to misinterpretation

Public Question No. 4 of the New Jersey Ballot this year

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT CONCERNING THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR CERTAIN PERSONS

Shall the amendment of Article II, Section I, paragraph 6 of the Constitution, agreed to by the Legislature, revising the current constitutional language concerning denial of the right to vote by deleting the phrase “idiot or insane person” and providing instead that a “person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting” shall not enjoy the right of suffrage, be adopted?

INTERPRETATIVE STATEMENT

Approval of this amendment concerning the denial of the right to vote would delete the phrase “idiot or insane person” and replace that phrase with “person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting” in describing those persons who shall be denied the right to vote. The phrase “idiot or insane person” is outdated, vague, offensive to many, and may be subject to misinterpretation. This constitutional amendment acknowledges that individuals with cognitive or emotional disabilities may otherwise be capable of making decisions in the voting booth and that their right of self-determination should be respected and protected in this regard. The amendment only denies the right of suffrage to those individuals determined by a court, on a case-by-case basis, to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting.

Now I realize that this is dealing with an important and sensitive issue, but I found the entire thing hilarious. Especially the "may be subject to misinterpretation" and the "lack the capacity to understand the act of voting" bits. Let's face it, if only we had denied the right to vote to all the idiots who lacked the capacity to understand the act of voting in the last two presidential elections, we wouldn't have such an idiot in the White House.

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007