Truthfully I’m not familiar with any of this. I’m just curious how we managed a functioning democracy through the 1800s when literacy was certainly lower. And, how other democratic nations with similar literacy rates are doing.
Most people were ineligible to vote in the 18th and 19th centuries. [1] Not even 20% of the US population voted in presidential elections until the 20th century. [2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_St...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Vote_for_President_a...