Several Fox News figures' recent suggestions to improve the electorate and voting practices are eerily reminiscent of discriminatory election laws like Jim Crow.

Should homeless people vote? Probably not, according to network host Tucker Carlson. Appearing on Outnumbered on October 2, Carlson took issue with a Republican campaign ad encouraging young women to vote by spoofing the TLC show Say Yes To The Dress, asking, “You want your government run by people whose favorite show is Say Yes [To The Dress]?” He compared the competence of young women at the ballot box to that of homeless people and argued, “I don't think as a general matter you should be encouraging people who don't know anything about what they're voting for to vote. That's what the Democrats do, giving Newports to the homeless to get them to the polls. That's literally true. Republicans shouldn't follow suit on that. You shouldn't pander to people.”

To be an informed voter, Fox contributor Ben Carson thinks you should read his new voter education guide. Just yesterday, Carson -- apparently also a likely presidential candidate -- hyped his new voting guide e-book in a National Review Online article. According to Carson, the country suffers from a dearth of informed voters and his e-book is the solution, providing information on politicians and policies to “make it easier for people to think for themselves, rather than being herded and manipulated by those in various political organizations who hunger for power, not liberty and fairness.”

Just last month, Fox & Friends co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck suggested it may be beneficial for Americans to pass citizenship tests before gaining the right to vote. Debating the advantages of requiring high schoolers to pass civics tests before graduating and becoming eligible to vote, Hasselbeck posited that such steps could make “a more meaningful measure when you vote, perhaps, too.” She later asked viewers for their thoughts on the tests: “Civics test required to vote or graduate? Let us know.”

Beyond implying that not all Americans are qualified to exercise a constitutional right, these Fox figures' voting suggestions share a common thread -- they hark back to discriminatory election laws like Jim Crow laws, rampant prior to the 1965 Voting Rights Act to keep would-be black voters away from the polls.

Prior to the enactment of the 15^th amendment, some states enforced laws mandating property ownership as a prerequisite to voting. In New York, the requirement applied only to blacks.

Under Jim Crow laws, literacy tests, purporting to ascertain whether a voter was sufficiently educated to cast a ballot, were common and disproportionately required of black voters. The tests and applications were "a mainstay of Jim Crow disenfranchisement," and a ruling of “illiterate” that rendered one ineligible to vote was often final.

The Fox News Channel has made an art of staking out seemingly mild positions that, in practice, are widely recognized as discriminatory and often banned under civil rights law. Earlier this year, reporter Shannon Bream advocated for businesses to be free to turn away customers for any reason, even sexual orientation, arguing that they would be punished by the market for biased practices.

The Fox reporter was apparently unconcerned that this would be a clear violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.