system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I believe that people with severe mental disabilities or illness shouldn't be allowed to vote in public polls, CMV.

First CMV, I did a quick search and couldn't find any CMV post about this topic in particular.

I understand that democracy isn't perfect and that the benefits of denying the right to vote to those with less academic formation, IQ etc pales in comparison to the negative consequences. 

However, I believe the case of the mentally disabled and mentally ill is different in a few regards:

* Many mental illness warp the way you perceive the world around you. Wether it be a delusion or hallucination, these people are, by definition, incapable of interacting and extracting conclusions from the world around them in a realistic way. They may, for example, believe one of the candidates is a reptilian overlord from Mars, without paying attention to his or her policies, just because of their illness.
* Were the person not mentally ill, he or she would probably perceive the world around them in a different manner, with the chance that this may affect their choice of candidate or option at the poll. Is it responsible to let a person make a choice that not only affects himself, but possibly millions, when he or she is under the influence of a disease that could alter the choice he would make were he healthy?
* In the case of the mentally disabled (non-mosaic Down's syndrome with heavy neurological involvement as an example), we're talking about serious mental retardation with an identified, concrete etiology. Their condition, while not involving hallucinations or delusions, does prevent them from grasping the most basic concepts needed to make informed decisions in semi-complex to complex matters. This includes voting. 

I also understand that it would be extremely difficult to legislate this without opening the door to those in power labelling the opponents as "mentally ill" and manipulating the system to prevent them from voting. However, I believe that this "slipper slope" pitfall can be avoided by restricting the ban to the more severe cases, verified by medical professions with EXTREMELY strict control. As a society, we have demonstrated enough self-control in similar situations to, in my opinion, warrant implementing a measure like this.
gpt
>Wether it be a delusion or hallucination, these people are, by definition, incapable of interacting and extracting conclusions from the world around them in a realistic way. They may, for example, believe one of the candidates is a reptilian overlord from Mars, without paying attention to his or her policies, just because of their illness.

Or they may believe that the UN is the government of the Antichrist as foretold in the Bible, just because their pastor said so.

People frequently make political decisions for nonsensical reasons, based on facts that have no relation to reality. If you want to stop this from happening, you need to end democracy; just keeping a certain group of people from voting won't fix anything.