Something that can happen when felons don't have the right to vote

[thesquanderer]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/crystal-mason-prison-sentence_n_5d3b04e8e4b0c31569e9fb94

She didn’t know it at the time, but election officials considered Mason ineligible to vote. She was still serving her sentence for a felony related to inflating tax returns. Even though she was out of prison, she was still on supervised release, a probationary period that can get added on to a prison sentence. Texas only lets people with felony convictions vote once they have completed their criminal sentences entirely.

Even though election officials never counted Mason’s vote ― she used a provisional ballot ― Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson (R) chose to prosecute the case. Prosecutors argued Mason knew she was ineligible to vote and tried to do it anyway. Mason says she had no idea she was ineligible to vote and was just trying to do her civic duty. Last year, Judge Ruben Gonzalez Jr. (R) agreed with Texas and found her guilty, sentencing her to five years in prison.

Mason is appealing that ruling. But because she was convicted of a crime while on supervised release for her federal sentence, the judge in that case sent her back to prison in September.

There's no reason any prison sentence should automatically remove someone's right to vote. Especially since often those most oppressed by society are the ones more likely to end up in prison, and those most oppressed by society are also the ones who most need to not have what little political power they have taken away.

Imprisonment takes away their freedom, we don't have to add more punishments than that unless there are specific reasons to do so, we don't need to add more punishments just for punishments' sake, just to be cruel, or just because we can. Unnecessarily taking away rights like this helps no one. It does not better protect the public (one purpose of incarceration). It does not aid in rehabilitating the criminal... that goal is aided by making people feel more a part of society, not more apart from it, so yet another reason it makes sense to let them vote.

I think the biggest reason many states don't want to let felons vote is that a disproportionate number of people in prison are people of color. We have a long history of making it hard for POC to vote, and this is just one more way.

p.s. - Guess what color Mason is.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. It's shameful that she is being sent back to prison for voting.

Five years! And she probably will be hassled for voting for the rest of her life. I agree that people shouldn't lose their right to vote for crimes committed unless they're currently incarcerated. I think the possibility for abuse is too great if they bring ballots into prisons. But when a person is released, their right to vote should be restored. If someone is able to live in society again, I see no reason to deny them the right to vote.

[thesquanderer]

3. re: "I think the possibility for abuse is too great if they bring ballots into prisons."

I'm at least concerned about the integrity of our voting machines here on the outside! Sealed, mail-in paper ballots from those incarcerated would probably be safer than some of what the rest of us are voting on.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Good point. I don't like our voting machines, either.

But I don't have any faith in prison staff to give the ballots to everyone like they should. I also think that some prisoners might be intimidated by others to vote a certain way. The whole situation seems ripe for abuse and besides, I don't really have a problem with prisoners losing some of their rights while locked up.

[thesquanderer]

5. re: "I don't really have a problem with prisoners losing some of their rights while locked up."

Some rights, sure. But there has to be a reason. A right to possess a gun would obviously be ridiculous in prison. But what's the reason to take away their right to vote? Especially keeping in mind the reasons I listed in the OP for allowing them to vote, what do you think the rationale is on the other side, for taking their voting right away?

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I think it's probably symbolic.

The message is that these people have committed crimes that made it necessary for them to be taken out of society, so they won’t be able to participate in society while they’re being punished.

[thesquanderer]

8. I think incarceration is punishment enough.

I believe they should get the punishment imposed by the judge, but not more than that (as long as they behave properly).

And I think that treating inmates as still part of society rather than completely isolated from it can help serve the purposes of rehabilitation. They should feel they have a vested interest in the world outside their walls, which they will (usually) some day again be a part of.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. Those are all good points and I wouldn't have any objection to

doing it that way. If they could have enough people present in the jails to be certain that the ballots are secret and everything is done legally, I think we could let them vote. But wardens aren't going to want to let a lot of people into their prisons because it's a security nightmare and besides, there are things in those prisons that they don't want known outside of those walls.

You make a good argument for allowing prisoners to vote and like I say, I don't really object to it, but there is so much other shit going on in prison that moves voting to the back burner. Rape and drug-dealing, theft and murder and crooked guards are just seen as part of life in prisons. The inmates are thought of by the guards as animals and treat them accordingly. The inmates act in a way that reflects how they're treated. It's an ugly, disgusting system that I'm personally ashamed of as an American. I hope that one day we're able to address the voting issue because that will mean we're working on the others as well.

[ProfessorPlum]

2. what a cruel set of circumstances

cruelty.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. I support voting rights for incarcerated citizens.