When do you think felons' voting rights should be returned?

[AP]

I think once you do the time, you're back to being a citizen and you should vote.

[JI7]

1. yes

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

2. It's a vile practice...

The 21st-Century version of the literacy test. We live in a society that metes our far harsher penalties on minorities and the poor (because they can't afford the kind of lawyering that, say, Ken Lay can pay for), and then punishes them for the rest of their natural life by making them second-class citizens.

It's immoral and Democrats who live in states where this is policy should work night and day to abolish it.

[arcos]

3. In my country NO ONE EVER loses their citizenship...

In fact, polling stations are installed in jails to allow inmates to vote.

[JohnLocke]

4. Yes. If they felony is SO bad they msut still be in prison.

[Frodo]

5. I'll say "never" and caveat "depends"

I want to know what the crime was. "Felony" is a wonderful buzz word, but it runs a HUGE gamut. If it's multiple counts of mail fraud that add up to a felony? Maybe you shouldn't lose it at all (unless the mail fraud is involves ballots I guess). If the felony is bank robbery of $200? Same thing.

If it's murder? Rape? Child abduction? You lose the franchise permanently. I don't want you choosing the President. We can argue the ultimate permanent punishment (death), but I'm happy to dole out a permanent civil punishment.

[qazplm]

6. I think it should be

once their prison time and remaining probation is completed.

Once they have no more obligations to the criminal justice system/society for their crimes, they should get their rights back.

[Sporadicus]

7. Felons Should Get Their Voting Rights Back After Serving Time

Isn't rehabilitation supposed to be the point of prison? Restoration of voting rights serves to demonstrate a person's integration back into society after completing the sentence or being paroled. The right to vote is an important part of this rehabilitation, giving the ex-prisoner a stake in shaping the society into which he/she has been returned. If the state is going to impose restrictions on ex-felons after they've fulfilled the terms of their sentences, they may as well admit that the point of prison is punishment - not rehabilitation - and that it will never end.

[truhavoc]

8. Crime is relative to times and culture...

The democratic process is there to allow views to be expressed no matter how in the minority. Who are we to truly judge what is right or wrong over another. This holds up better against public scrutiny when speaking of things like drug laws or something of the like. I would go as far to argue that there is a time and a place for all "crimes" and none should be discriminated against no matter how unpopular.

[Scaramouche]

9. I always thought it's weird...

that you can loose your rights. Voting is not a priviledge like driving.

I find it even more weird is how some states make you jump thru hoops to get re-instated.

[Frodo]

15. Hogwash!

Sure voting is a "right" (unlike driving privileges). But what are some of the other rights?

Life? Liberty? Pursuit of Happiness? Free speech? Privacy?

All of these rights can be taken away fro you if you commit the "right" felony. And, depending on severity, they can be permanent.

It's just that there are a number of "felony" offenses that are not as bad as some of the others. It should not be automatic.

Maybe have it be part of a jury verdict?

[TroubleMan]

10. Bringing this over from the other discussion on it...

Here's what I said before:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2001280&mesg_id=2001918


I've got a little to add to it. Voting can help give a person in jail a feeling like they're part of the community - not an outcast. It makes them feel important about something positive. It could start them on the track of rejoining the community. This could help out with recidivism. Anything that help inmates become a productive member of society when they get out I'm for. This benefits everybody.

But again - corruption and misconduct in jails is very common. In a perfect world, yes, they should vote. However, it's not a perfect world right now. RIGHT NOW IN THE US, WE HAVE A LARGER PERCENTAGE OF OUR POPULATION INCARCERATED THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY. That's too large of a voting block for there to be a high chance of tampering, and where the people who would do the tampering control the whole situation. Too big of a chance to take.

[welshTerrier2]

11. No One Should Ever Lose Their Right To Vote

Think about it ... whether you think we should be tougher on convicted felons or not, we still need to have a policy on dealing with felons in the prison system ...

Felons are, whether we hate them or not, part of our society ... there are issues that affect them ... and why shouldn't they be represented in the political process? suppose that prisoners across the country are being served unhealthy food? suppose that prisoners want to see tougher standards for those serving on parole boards? suppose that felons want greater access to education and training?

Under the current system that denies them the right to vote, they have to hope that someone will hear their message and respond ... but it shouldn't be this way ... candidates for office should clearly define what their views are on issues of concern to felons and other prisoners ... these candidates may believe that felons have it too easy and not cater to their views ... but others may find issues that felons want highlighted should be given a good airing in the legislature ... without the right to vote, issues of concern to this population are much less likely to be heard ... our system is designed to respond to those who can vote for you and / or finance you ...

I see no credible argument that legitimate issues raised by felons shouldn't be considered right alongside issues of concern to the general public ... every issue deserves its day in court even if you as an individual have been convicted in a court ...

The focus of this issue should not be one of punishment ... it should be one of giving a fair hearing and a voice to all ideas regardless of what group is sponsoring the idea ... this doesn't mean we should be soft on crime; it means we should give every citizen a right to present their issues for public consideration ...

[mitchum]

12. They should never lose their voting rights

[69KV]

13. Never

Every state should do as Maine and Vermont do, and as Utah and Massachusetts used to do until a few years ago:

Let every citizen 18 or over vote, period. Even the ones in the state pen.

I see no justification for any other policy besides the above.

[69KV]

14. er...

The title above should say,

"Never taken away".

[bigbillhaywood]

19. Right with you.

[Bridget Burke]

16. Even in Texas,

Ex-felons get their voting rights back two years after the end of the sentence, probation or parole.

[billyskank]

17. You should get your franchise back

as soon as you finish your sentence.

[bigbillhaywood]

18. Our prison-industrial complex is a racist gulag to imprison

black youth. That being said, there will always be idiots who get themselves locked up in any scenario, but they shouldn't lose their voting rights.

[Spirochete]

20. They should never lose their voting rights

They should all be able to vote for people who make the laws, even if they are going to break them all.

[Luminous Animal]

21. Let prisoners vote!

There are two interesting and disturbing points to consider in
regards to the disenfranchisement of prisoners:

1) They are counted as voters thus skewing congressional
districts, and as the first article linked below illustrates,
probable democratic voters are expanding republican
congressional districts.

2) The racist background of disenfranchisement.



http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0517/p09s02-coop.html
The prison effect on political landscape
Christian Science Monitor

[quote]DURHAM, N.C. – The US prison boom of the past 30 years
- which has nearly doubled the number of state prisons to more
than 1,000 and increased the nation's prison population from
218,000 to 1.3 million - has had widely recognized economic,
political, and social effects. 

But one important political effect of the forced relocation of
millions of inmates has been largely overlooked: The dilution
of the urban black vote to the benefit of rural white
communities.

A new Urban Institute report shows that inmates tend to come
from regions that are demographically distinct from those in
which their prisons are located. And because the Census Bureau
counts prison inmates as residents of the legislative
districts in which they're incarcerated, the relocation of
inmates - who are not allowed to vote in 48 states - skews
both the distribution of government funds and the
apportionment of legislative representation.

This is a particularly grievous injustice in an era in which
presidential and legislative races are won by razor-thin
margins.

The distortion in representation caused by enumeration of
prisoners tends to favor rural residents, whites, and
Republicans, at the expense of urban residents, blacks, and
Democrats.[/quote][/quote]


http://www.alternet.org/story/16180/
Echoes of Juneteenth Haunt Us Today
By Joseph 'Jazz' Hayden, AlterNet. Posted June 19, 2003.

[quote]Is it coincidence that the harshest disenfranchisement
laws are mostly in former slave states? Not in the slightest.
Like poll taxes and literacy tests, the ostensibly
race-neutral disenfranchisement laws were created to keep
blacks from voting. In 1896, for example, Mississippi
lawmakers ruled that only a narrow range of offenses --
bribery, burglary, theft, arson, perjury, forgery,
embezzlement, bigamy and "obtaining money or goods under
false pretenses" -- made you lose the vote. Why not
murder or rape? Because ex-slaves were far more likely to
commit petty property crimes than serious offenses.

Southern lawmakers were not shy about their intentions.
"This plan," said one delegate to the Virginia
convention of 1906, which established rules similar to
Mississippi, "will eliminate the darkey as a political
factor in this State in less than five years."

The laws worked. One Alabama historian found that by 1903, the
laws had excluded nearly 10 times as many blacks as whites
from voting.[/quote][/quote]