You don't have to pass a test to vote in the United States, though the notion that voters should understand how the government works, or know the names of their own representatives, before being allowed to enter the voting booth is commonly held.The idea of requiring a test to vote is not as far-fetched as it might seem. Until recent decades, many Americans were forced to pass a test to vote. The discriminatory practice was banned under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.