They also tried it in the American South as part of Jim Crow: "literacy" tests that were hard for anyone to pass, with grandfather clauses so that all of the illiterate whites could keep voting (in fact, that's where the term "grandfather clause" comes from).

The problem with the term "moron" is that it is too easily applied to mean, "people who I don't think should be allowed to vote, no matter how intelligent they might actually be."

Racists were also in favor of socialism, gun control, teaching evolution in school, reduced taxation, labor unions, and freshly baked apple pie.

The fact that racists favor a corrupted version of a certain policy does not imply that the policy is bad.

> You can't have a semi democracy where the elite decides, who's eligible to vote.

Historically, that's just an oligarchy or plutocracy.

Heck even being governed by a "council of elders" is a semi-democracy if not all elders are approved by the council to join their ranks.