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What was the impact of practices like "Literacy Tests" in shaping Puerto Rican voter participation?

a. Increased voter participation
b. Decreased voter participation
c. Had no impact on voter participation
d. Encouraged fair elections

User Gosseti
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

Literacy Tests and similar practices were used primarily as a means of voter suppression against African Americans and other minorities, leading to decreased voter participation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The impact of practices like "Literacy Tests" significantly shaped Puerto Rican voter participation by creating barriers to the voting process. These tests, along with poll taxes and understanding tests, were used primarily to disenfranchise African American voters and other minorities. Literacy tests would require a prospective voter to read and sometimes explain a passage of text, with officials having the discretion to manipulate the difficulty of these tests based on racial bias. As a result, most African Americans were at a severe disadvantage, especially considering the historical context where formal education was largely inaccessible to them. Even if these tests were applied fairly, the systemic barriers to education for African Americans meant that few were able to pass these tests. In Southern states, voter suppression tactics such as the white primary also negated the effectiveness of minority voters. Therefore, the answer to the question 'What was the impact of practices like "Literacy Tests" in shaping Puerto Rican voter participation?' would be b. Decreased voter participation.

User Mvc
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