Back in 2004, I spent a month in the Tampa Bay Area organizing teams to do voter registration drives. One of the most common rejections we got was people telling us that they couldn’t register to vote because they were felons. It was shocking not just for how many people told us that they were felons but for how willing people were to tell a stranger about it. In some cases, it seemed like they were lying and it was just a convenient Florida-style way of telling a door-knocker to go away. But, where I come from, you’d never shoo away a canvasser by confessing to having a serious criminal record. If that were the reason you couldn’t register, you’d make up some other excuse. What was different in Florida was the total lack of shame associated with the term, which I took to mean that felonies were passed out far too regularly in Florida. It shouldn’t be a normal thing to have a felony conviction.
In any case, can you guess who wants to help fix the problem?
Nothing seems more ass-backwards in this country than preventing people convicted of crimes (I refuse to call them “felons”; it has a similar affect as “illegal alien”) who have served their sentences the right to vote. Voting is the hallmark of civic duty. Why wouldn’t you want someone returning to society after having completed their sentence to have a stake in it, as a way to reduce the risk of returning to a life of crime?
They call America the “land of second chances” which is pure bull on many levels but especially when it comes to this. They make it hard to get a job, prevent them from voting, and do everything possible to ostracize those who have paid their debt to society from participating in it. Is it any wonder so many return to crime?
Were it up to me, I would make registering to vote a condition for being released on parole, and make proof of voting a requirement for staying out of prison while on parole. Making people understand that aspect of the system, the civic importance of voting, and then requiring them to vote, rather than preventing them, is the best way to instill a sense of civic responsibility and minimize the risk of recidivism.
We need to go further. We need to allow people who are currently serving prison sentences, including felons, the ability to vote. It shouldn’t be a right that’s stripped away just because of a conviction and sentence.
That seems to be where the energy is
Hadn’t thought of that but they should be able to vote while in prison; they are still citizens and as such have the right to vote.
And voting in prison should be taken in to consideration for parole, to encourage it.
. . . voting (your last graf).
Just doesn’t seem to me like tha’d ever be a good policy. Removing obstacles via automatic registration, weekend/absentee/mail-in voting, overturning Banana Republican voter-suppression measures, etc., etc. — absolutely. But not coercion to vote.
Suspect singling out prior felons for the treatment would also raise some Constitutional or other legal issues, e.g., maybe “equal protection”.
Good for them! I always say if libertarians every meant anything they said about their sacred principles I wouldn’t hate them so much. Here’s a case where a couple of them apparently do, on one issue, and I’m for it. I’m also always glad to quote Cato on immigration reform, they do excellent research.
Just speaking for myself, when the Koch brothers lend their weight to anything worthwhile it causes a certain cognitive dissonance. Would love to see more of this but my guess is a few nickels slipped through the cracks.
I’ve been blown off frequently by young people claiming to be felons in WA. Thing is…they can vote. I think a lot of people are lying. No way that many people have been convicted of felonies in a small city. We don’t have the infrastructure to convict that many people.
Obama’s last speech made note of the fact that young people voted at the rate of 20% (one in five). The felon excuse is just lame at this point.
. . . it reported.
Certainly struck me as counter-intuitive, though I suppose a glibertarian argument exists.
60% for it to pass. Lots of luck. Rick Scott liked to play god with this. They all do.