Tyler Quick

Lindsey England
Jordan Phillips
Kayla Lee-Brown
Collin Bartlett
Mr. Armstrong
EISD Career Prep Center
AM Criminal Justice
4/25/14
Should Felons Be Allowed to Vote?
Article Citation:
Should Felons Be Allowed to Vote?. Ed. ProCon.org Felon Voting. N.P., 29 Aug.
2008. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. http://felonvoting.procon.org/
Summary:
Felon voting rights have been a widely debated and controversial topic for both state
and federal United States governments recently. Felon voting laws greatly vary throughout the
U.S., as well as country to country. All of these felony voting laws have different levels of
classification according to the various state governments. These levels of classification are
shown in the diagram below:

There are 11 states who fall under the may lose vote permanently classification:
Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee,
Virginia, and Wyoming.
There are 20 states who fall under the restored after incarceration + parole + probation
classification:
Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
There are 4 states who fall under the restored after incarceration + parole classification:
California, Colorado, Connecticut, and New York.\
There are 13 states and Washington D.C. who fall under the restored after incarceration
classification:
Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington D.C.
There are 2 states who fall under the unrestricted classification:
Maine and Vermont.
The biggest problem with the current system of felony voting laws and classifications is that it
creates mass confusion to non-felons and there is no real federal ruling on these regulations.
The most important thing that must be done by the federal government is to create a uniform
set of felony voting regulations that will be the same in every state. In order to create the least
amount of confusion and allow for the idea of democracy to apply to every legal U.S. citizen, the
U.S. government should allow unrestricted voting privileges in every state by allowing all
convicted felons to vote in general elections under the absentee ballot while in prison. With
current state laws, there are a vast amount of citizens who cannot have their voice be heard in
democratic elections because of incarceration.


The amount of people who have a right to vote but have become disenfranchised because of
incarceration has recently become a staggering, continuously increasing number. Felons are
allowed to marry, buy beer, own cars, reproduce, and have freedom of religion after
incarceration, but possibly losing the right to vote is downright degrading and wrong if not
unconstitutional. In several different prestigious and well respected polls even the general
public has responded outwardly about this issue in a manner that is positive towards the
establishment of unrestrictive voting laws for those disenfranchised.
To sum up, we believe in the need for some changes in current felon voting regulations to
occur. We would propose that:
The federal government makes a ruling on felon voting laws and creates a uniform set of
rules.
The federal government establishes an unrestrictive voting law for all disenfranchised
felon voters.
Supporting Argument:
Many franchised American voters could ask why we would want to allow
disenfranchised prisoners to vote since they clearly have poor judgment. This point of view is
failed in its logic. If everyone did not have faith in the judgment of felons, there would be no
such thing as parole or conditional liberty. Our government has the system of parole because
we dont believe in locking someone and throwing away the key whenever they make a mistake
due to a lapse in judgment. Because of this belief prisoners should be able to vote. Most felons
will once again enter society as a normal citizen and they are people just the same as us and
deserve a say in who runs the country or the county. Many have families on the outside who
are affected by the person elected just as they are. The government is in charge of running the
prison system and, therefore, allows prisoners to attain usage of their right to vote in elections
in a democratic country. They deserve a chance to have their voice heard as much as any other
citizen of the United States. This is why we believe that there should be a policy of unrestricted
voting privileges extended to disenfranchised voters in every state.
Opposing Argument:
Americans can also argue many reasons why felons shouldnt be allowed to vote,
whether arguing poor judgment, untrustworthy decision-making, etc. Roger Clegg, president
and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, states, We dont let children vote, for
instance, or non-citizens, or the mentally incompetent. Why? Because we dont trust them and
their judgment Prison is meant to be a punishment. Should convicted felons lose their
freedom and civil rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution when incarcerated? The
answer is no. No one who is eligible to vote any other time than during their period of
incarceration should lose that right. This is why there should be a federal ruling on this
controversial topic. Simply put, there is no excuse for taking someones right to democracy
away no matter what they did. It is unconstitutional and just plain wrong.


Conclusion:
Current voting laws for felons are a controversial and widely-debated topic in todays
current voting system. There are many factors that are taken into consideration: such as the
seriousness of the crime, and differences in state and federal law. The only foreseeable way to
solve this problem is for the federal government to create a uniform set of regulations. More
specifically, there is a need for unrestrictive voting privileges to be allowed to disenfranchised
felon voters.