British Expatriate Network

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable with the fact that felons in the US lose the right to vote? Forever!?

I was talking to some people back home yesterday and I mentioned that when people are convicted of a felony in the US (any crime with a possible maximum penalty of a year in jail) they lose the right to vote. You don't have to get the year sentence, just be convicted of a crime for which you could be convicted for a year. This wasn't as common knowledge as I thought, and reinforced the image of the US as a demented police state in the eyes of my friends. Feeling uneasy I had a look at the number of people in prison - about 2 million and around 5-6 million ex-cons. So that's around 7 million people without the right to vote. Apparently they have already served their punishment, so why don't we do away with this nutso law?

I remember hearing a lot about this on NPR in the run up to the last election. Doesn't seem right to me. If your actually in prison serving your sentance then you shouldn't be able to vote but surely once you've served your time that should be it.

Yes. I always thought this was odd. I mean, isn't it unconstitutional??

Isn't it a state by state decision, though? I was under the impression that some states enforce this and some allow convicts/ex-convicts to vote. -?

Yes, I think I have found it

http//www.alternet.org/story/17990

Uncomfortable is too nice a way to put it. Morally repugnant and wholly undemocratic. Its worth remembering that these laws have there roots in segregation and the period of 'redemption' (when the racists repealled much of the 'redemption' era laws enacted following the civil war). The intention and effect was to disenfranchise African Americans.

To this day, minorities are more likely to be charged with and convicted of felonies than whites who have commited identical acts. Thus these laws effectively suppress minority votes under the guise of moral rectitude.

When I refer to things I'd like to change - this is one of the things prominant in my mind - I find it disgusting and a reflect of Americas real moral values.

Personally I'd go further than repealling these laws and allow imprisoned persons to vote (something that doesn't happen in Britain either) - I suspect the attitude towards criminal justice, prison overcrowding and the appalling levels of rape and other violence in prisons would change rather promptly.