Removing the right of some inmates to exercise their legal responsibility as v

revoking inmate voting rights would strip imprisoned people of dignity and make rehabilitation that much more difficult

That the franchise is enshrined in the state Constitution and too important to withdraw on a whim; that voting rights keep inmates connected to civic life and make it easier for them to rejoin society; that the notion of restricting rights for people in prison was inconsistent with the values of the state

killers had denied their loved ones the right to vote and therefore should suffer the same fate.

there are no black populations to speak of and racial demonization does not come into the equation. Both states place no restrictions on voting rights for people convicted of even serious crimes and have steadfastly resisted efforts to revoke a system that allows inmates to vote from prison.

Alabama today has one of the highest rates of felony disenfranchisement in the nation: An estimated 7.2 percent of its citizens — and 15 percent of African-Americans — have lost the right to vote.

voting laws needed to be amended, lest whites be swept away at the polls by the black vote.

he larger the state’s black population, the more likely the state was to pass the most stringent laws that permanently denied people convicted of crimes the right to vote

black population — which makes up 38 percent of those denied the vote

stripped one in every 13 black persons of the right to vote — a rate four times that of nonblacks nationally.

at a time when our peers in the democratic world rightly see it as an aberration

aberration

statutes that allowed correctional systems to arbitrarily and permanently strip large numbers of people of the right to vote were a particularly potent tool in the campaign to undercut African-American political power

the punishment and stigma continues for the rest of their life, harming their families and hampering their ability to re-enter society

repealing felon disenfranchisement laws is in the interest of upholding American ideals

While George W. Bush won Florida by 537 votes in 2000, more than 800,000 Floridians with criminal records were barred from voting

Mass disenfranchisement also has serious political consequences.

a study by a parole commission in Florida found that formerly incarcerated people banned from voting were three times as likely to re-offend as those who were allowed to vote

felon disenfranchisement laws — which are explicitly permitted by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution — are devoid of both logic and supporting evidence. They undermine the citizenship of people who have paid their debt to society

Most industrialized nations allow all nonincarcerated people to vote

still falls disproportionately on minorities, who make up more than one-third of those affected

disenfranchisement laws were aimed at newly freed blacks.

Mr. Holder has become increasingly outspoken: criminal justice reform and voting rights.

State laws that disenfranchise people who have served their time “defy the principles — of accountability and rehabilitation

“By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.”

“profoundly outdated” practice that is unjust and counterproductive.

Attorney

erroneous

In the six states that prohibit ex-felons from voting, one in four African-American men is permanently disenfranchised.

There are, however, certain features of the American penal system that give the topic of disenfranchisement a pressing moral sa

en pr

Enfranchisement