
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 6, 1993<                   TAG: 9306070127
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GIVE `IGNORANT' VOTERS THEIR SAY

I READ Paxton Davis' May 28 column ("Idea more imbecilic than democratic") on the "motor-voter." My advice to Davis is to shut up before somebody smacks his face. He has nerve. He wants to divide voters into ignorant and smart, not letting the ignorant vote. What standards would he use?

I wish my grandfather were alive to hear such nonsense. He could not read or write, worked from sun up to sun down, and registering to vote would have been a real hassle for him because he didn't have the free time to do so. But he would have wanted his vote. The vote is not the exclusive domain of the smart and/or informed voter. It is these voters who have gotten the country in the mess it is in today. Give the `ignorant' voter a chance to balance the budget and he'll vote to spend only what's in the pot.

By doing it Davis' way, the so-called smart voter will decide for the ignorant voter. What would the ignorant voter say about that? I think my grandfather would ball up his fist. DONTAV BYTE ROANOKE

by CNB