Today in the United States around 6 million people who would otherwise be eligible to vote are barred from doing so due to a prior criminal conviction. The felon disenfranchisement laws that vary state by state and prevent these people from voting are remnants of laws made after the Civil War with the explicit aim of preventing African Americans from voting, and even today their effect is most deeply felt in minority communities. From fairly easily measurable consequences like a lower voter turnout or a higher rate of recidivism to more abstract effects on the self-perception of ex-convicts and their communities, research shows that disenfranchisement has a complex and broad impact. Why do lawmakers who claim to want to reduce crime support these laws that have been shown to increase the risk of re-offending? What is being done, and what more could be done to reinstate voting rights to those from whom they’ve been taken away?
Felon disenfranchisement laws have a close connection to state-level politics, in which crime is often a central issue. One common tactic of political campaigning is to create an image of a leader who is “tough on crime”—someone who supports longer sentences and strong law enforcement, and someone who has a harsh view of criminals. Because laws governing convicts’ and ex-convicts’ right to vote are made at state level, the voting rights of these groups are vulnerable to changes in local political leadership. Although there is research to show that taking away the right to vote leads to a higher likelihood of reoffending, a “tough on crime” political strategy can still be effective and easier to convey to voters than a policy based on research. For some politicians it is also beneficial that these laws that disproportionately affect minority communities—especially African Americans—stay in place if the members of these communities are viewed as unlikely to vote for them or their party.
Much has been done in recent years to reinstate the voting rights of felons, and this work is often done by local activists in connection with larger organizations like the ACLU. In Florida, one of the states that currently permanently bars people with felony convictions from voting, a campaign to reinstate voting rights has led to the introduction of a constitutional amendment to the 2018 ballot. If the amendment comes to pass, it would affect 1.5 million people. Because felon disenfranchisement laws are just one category of laws among many that especially limit the democratic participation of minority communities, there have also been calls for legislation on the federal level, as well as demands for broader protections to the right to vote, such as a second voting rights act.
Felon disenfranchisement touches on many important questions about the contemporary United States: What is the purpose of punishment, and when does it end? Should the most fundamental rights of a citizen be vulnerable to politics? Laws concerning felon’s right to vote disproportionately affect African Americans, and call into question whether enough work has yet been done to protect the communities whose right to democratic participation has historically been under attack.
Sources:
Hamilton-Smith, Guy Padraic, and Matt Vogel. “The Violence of Voicelessness: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement on Recidivism.” Berkeley La Raza Law Journal 22, (March 2012): 407-431
“Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Florida.” Brennan Center for Justice. 12.2.2018.
https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/voting-rights-restoration-efforts-florida
“Felony Disenfranchisement: A Primer.” The Sentencing Project. 2016.
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/felony-disenfranchisement-a-primer/
Pearl, Betsy & Chung, Ed. ”Resisting ‘Tough on Crime’: Smarter Ways to Keep American Cities Safe.” Center For American Progress. 1.2.2018.
”Florida’s disenfranchised: voices of the 1.7 million not allowed to vote.” The Guardian. 18.10.2016.