LSAT 128 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A proposed amendment would allow the city council to decide …

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Voting by mail shouldn’t be allowed and the proposal should be rejected.

REASONING: Voting is a sacred right in democracies, and it has always been exercised in person.

ANALYSIS: The author argues that voting by mail shouldn’t be allowed, but the only justification given is that voting has always been done in person. So essentially, just because something has always been done one way, we can’t do it any other way.

Also, there’s an important distinction to make here. The proposed amendment would allow certain elections to be conducted through mail votes only. You might be thinking that since this argument is opposing the amendment, it’s saying we shouldn’t only conduct it by mail – that both options should be allowed. That’s actually a pretty reasonable opinion.

But that’s not the only thing the argument states. The conclusion says two things: (1) the proposal should be rejected, and (2) voting by mail should not be allowed at all. So the author isn’t just against making some elections mail-only – they’re rejecting mail-in voting altogether, based only on tradition.

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1. It never stated that this is the only way voting rights can be violated. There may be a million other reasons, we’re just discussing this specific one.
2. The flaw isn’t about assuming people will continue to have a right they’ve always had. Rather, it’s assuming because voting has always been done in person, it must continue that way.
3. CORRECT. The argument only appeals to tradition (voting in person) and uses that as the only reason for rejecting mail-in voting.
4. Whether the city council chooses to actually follow through or not is irrelevant. The argument opposes the amendment based on principle.
5. There’s no logical contradiction between the premise and conclusion, “just” a poor justification.