Hmm. While I do agree that there should be some sort of restraint against idiotic voters (I'm living that as well in my country), I, for one, think that it would go against the concept of democracy.

If you think about it, in most countries the ignorants are a majority, and is up to us (the ones that think things before doing them) to suffer the consequences of a bad goverment because we are the ones able to see it.

However, creating a "literacy test", while a good idea, poses several serious questions, like who will be in charge to making the test? How can we be sure the test is balanced so that anybody with the knowledge we require can partake on it? What if the tests are manipulated in order to acquire more votes neverminding the answers? Because, while only a few (the ones that pass the test) could vote, in order to do so, EVERYBODY who wanted to vote, should take the test, and a corrupt politician would looove to alter the results in order to gain his state more votes.

Also, while the least of our worries, logistically and econoically, I don't think it would be too viable. Just setting up the vote urns is a hassle, picture making a test for each citizen registered to vote.

And there's always the risk of people feeling their rights are being violated, and that's a whole different story.

While a great idea, this is why I think it would be rather impractical.