Should Felons Have A Vote?

[Dinger]

[davidinalameda]

1. while they're in jail or after they're out?

in jail-no

out-yes

[bottomofthehill]

5. agree

[thunder rising]

20. Agreed, when they have paid the penalty, that's it, welcome back to society.

except they have to admit they are felons on every application they fill out.

[Dinger]

6. I think Inmates Can Vote In Maine And Vermont

But i'm not sure.

[AlabamaLibrul]

2. Violent crime after jail? No. Non-violent crime? Yes. n/t

[Dappleganger]

9. The Bernie Madoff's who actually get convicted

should not be allowed to vote, no. Otherwise, I agree with you.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Yes

Without going into detail about the inequities of our justice system and the systemic as well as institutional racism that feeds it, I vote yes.

[backscatter712]

14. Indeed! Consider the disproportionate amount of blacks and Latinos in prison...

Denying the right to vote to inmates and felons is tantamount to virtual Jim Crow.

And I'm pretty damned sure the racist assholes that infest positions of power in the South and elsewhere know this and like it this way.

[kentauros]

36. You might want to rethink your position

about the inequities of disenfranchisement for ex-felons in the South. Look at that link below about "voting as a felon". Only ten states out of 50 have permanent disenfranchisement of voting rights. Two of them are your neighbors to Colorado, i.e., Wyoming and Arizona. Only three states of what most Americans call "The South" these days have permanent loss of voting rights. Not even Texas takes them away forever ;)

[grasswire]

4. felons do have a right to vote in many states

It's a states rights issue. In some states, they have to petition the governor. Here's a list of requirements, state by state.

http://www.rockthevote.com/election-center/voting-ex-felon/

[grasswire]

10. consider the fact that justice is unequally applied for minorities...

...and that if all minority felons were disenfranchised, a HUGE proportion of the minority electorate would be lost.

[Dinger]

42. I Agree (nt)

[Iggo]

34. Most states.

[sandnsea]

7. After they're released, yes

I think there are a lot of laws out there specifically to create felons so they can't vote.

[Dinger]

8. Kind Of Like A Modern Day Jim Crow Law

Seems to me

[HEyHEY]

11. Depends on the sentence. If you're due to be released mid-term, sure

If you will be in prison, nope.

[saltpoint]

12. Yes.

Citizenship carries responsibilities and also privileges. If the society demands the first it must not withhold the second.

Redemption is an essential variable in the social contract.

[me b zola]

Our Constitutional rights are not "privileges"

The right to vote is not a privilege, it is a guaranteed right---to all of us. Yet, who is told to act responsible, and who lives in privilege are two different groups.

Here's a bit of shorthand that may help you understand. There are those of us that are held to the responsibilities of the social contract, 98% of us, then there are those of them, 2%, that reap the privileges of the social contract.

[saltpoint]

27. Agree.

[me b zola]

28. You made my night---thank you

:hug:

[saltpoint]

29. - - -

:hi:

:thumbsup:

Kurt Vonnegut, among his very many extremely humanist comments, once suggested that humans being try to be more fluid and more kind than they often are. For me that would encompass the restoration of full citizenship to felons, per the OP's question in the poll. But of course it widens the circle much farther still, and is a far more inclusive model than the one usually visible in the United States.

I think one of the gauges of progressives opposition to Tea Party candidates is that we are almost uniformaly appalled at how stingy their circle is, when the model we'd prefer is the wider "Vonnegut" circle.

[TheKentuckian]

13. Their rights should be restored upon paying their debt to society

Otherwise the entire purpose of rehabilitation and the finite nature of a sentence are both thrown in the crapper.

I'm talking once you are no longer under correction or probation and parole that you are once again a free citizen with the rights and responsibilities that comes with.

I don't believe in a sentence to a permanent underclass. If you do something that bad but no longer require custody then exile is order and I don't quickly come up with such crimes to fit that odd niche.

I consider this excessive punishment and of very questionable morality.

[Juche]

15. They never are

I've never been arrested or convicted, but my impression is even after 'paying your debt' you still have tons of trouble finding jobs or living w/o stigma. The mentally ill alone make up about 25% of people in prison. Add in all the people arrested for minor drug issues or who made a mistake, regret it, and want to pay their due back (non-habitual criminals) and I'd guess 50%+ fit into those categories.

The sociopaths and career criminals on the other hand, they should be locked up. A tiny minority of criminals commit the majority of the crimes.

[oswaldactedalone]

16. This is the way it is in NC

but many former felons don't realize it. I've heard the gamut of possible reasons why they think they can't vote, but once their debt is fully paid, they can vote in NC. They do have to re-register though.

[TheKentuckian]

25. Very sane policy. Here you have to petition the Governor aka bribes and such, I reckon

with petty politics of the season dictating consideration at all.

[TexasObserver]

17. Yes, even while incarcerated.

Incarceration and conviction should not stop one from voting. It is a fundamental right. Taking it away only puts more of a premium on the ruling class using dubious reasons to felonize millions of likely voters for the other party.

We dehumanize our prison populations then wonder why they're animals.

[beyurslf]

18. Yes if they are out of prison. If they are safe enough to live among us, why shouldn't they be

allowed to vote? Voting is being an active citizen in your community. We should encourage civic involvement.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Decide either way and put it into law

The GOP likes it JUST the way it is.

They can exclude them if it's politically dangerous (like in Florida) or IGNORE them when things are going OK for them.

[LostInAnomie]

21. Yes. According to the courts they have paid their debt and should be allowed to reenter society.

They will pay taxes. They will be subject to any law that is passed. They will do every other thing that is expected of a citizen of the USA. There is no reason for keeping them from taking part in the most important duty a citizen can perform.

[and-justice-for-all]

22. While in Jail/Prison, NO

after release, yes.

[Lyric]

23. Yes.

They're citizens, aren't they? Either throw them out of the country, or let them have a vote. It's unfair to let them stay here (and to continue sucking down the tax dollars from their post-prison labor) but to deny them the right to vote.

Either they ARE citizens--with all the rights embodied in that word--or they aren't. If they aren't, then revoke their citizenship and throw them out. Otherwise, after they've paid their dues to society, their rights should be fully restored.

[glen123098]

24. Yes even while in prison.

Reason being a bigoted law can make something such as sodomy a crime, and then homosexuals can have their voting rights taken away.

[BlueIris]

26. Yes. After they get out, they're still expected to work and pay taxes

on what they earn. It makes no sense to deny them the right to help choose the people who will determine their tax rates (taxation without representation...sucks.)

[JVS]

30. I'm not a fan of the idea of felons voting on the local level.

On the national level, the individual voter is so far from wielding influence that felons voting doesn't seem to pose any risk, the state is similar but to a lesser degree.
Local politics is a bit more of a give and take between citizen and official, and I wouldn't want judges to have to answer to felons in the voting booth.

[hughee99]

37. Imagine having a district of 15K people with a prison population of 5K.

On a national level (or even state level) is one matter, but on a local level it could create serious situations.

[Odin2005]

31. Yes, it's their country, too.

[Ozymanithrax]

32. Once they've paid their debt to society, they should have the rights...

to vote.

[Iggo]

33. Yes I should.

[David__77]

35. Even in the Soviet Union people in the gulag had the right to vote.

Interesting, no?

[Art_from_Ark]

38. Yeah, the people in the gulag had a choice

between Communist Party Apparatchik #1, who sent to them the gulag; and
Communist Party Apparatchik #2, who would have sent them to the gulag

[JVS]

39. If it's good enough for anti-war voters, it's good enough for the class enemy.

[WillParkinson]

40. As many others have noted...

It's their country, too. They are expected to pay taxes and, therefore, should be allowed to have a say in what kind of representation they have.

[Behind the Aegis]

41. Taxation without representation.

Isn't that one of the main reasons the colonies broke from Mother England? If they are no longer incarcerated, they should have the right to vote.

[Creideiki]

43. Keep in mind "Felon" is an arbitrary term

The state legislatures arbitrarily decide certain crimes are felonies and others are misdemeanors. And those who are sentenced frequently are poor and/or minorities.

There are still more of us than there are of them.

[Lexwasp]

47. It is not an arbitrary term - it has a specific meaning.

It means a person guilty of a felony, which is a crime punishable by more than one year in prison.

It may be applied differently in different jurisdictions (though the differences between what is a felony and misdemeanor are nowhere near as great as the differences in prison terms within the "felony" category), but it is not an arbitrary term.

[bigwillq]

44. Yes (nt)

[uncommon]

45. After they are released, yes. In jail, no.

[racaulk]

46. Absolutely they should.

Felons are citizens, just like the rest of us. As such, the decisions made by our government affect them too. They should certainly have a voice in the process of deciding who represents them and makes decisions on their behalf.

[pgodbold]

48. Before you vote on my rights get a clue.

A new study by the Sentencing Project shows that some 800,000 people with felony convictions have been given the right to vote over the past decade, thanks to reforms to laws governing eligibility in 23 states. But at least 5.3 million felons of voting age remain disenfranchised," National Public Radio reported on its show,


http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=133

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