Fifteen of the 20 Latin American countries allow illiterates to vote, furnish colored ballots or party symbols to guide them. Last week Brazil, one of the five remaining holdouts,* moved to drop its literacy requirement. The main force for reform was no left-winging politician but a stiff-backed army officer. Acting more and more like a man who hopes eventually to be elected President, General Henrique Teixeira Lott, 62, War Minister and staunch army prop of the current regime, got a friendly Congressman to introduce a constitutional amendment killing the literacy test. He has already backed such a measure with...
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