Right to Vote

When it comes to felons and their right to vote, America is defiantly a nation of many restrictions. Only two states of out 50 have zero laws stripping felons of their right to vote at some point. 9 states only allow rights to be restored by Governor or court action, which is very rare to get. The remaining states restrict rights until release, or completion of sentence. Over 5.6 million Americans have or have had their rights infringed upon due to a felony charge. Obviously, many Americans are directly affected by disenfranchisement laws, but what about those who aren’t affected? In a study conducted in 2012, 60% of Americans believe voting rights should be restored after being released from prison and on parole, 68% believe rights should be restored while under supervised probation, but only 31% think people currently in prison should be able to vote. As for those who have completed their sentence and parole, four-fifths of Americans favor restoring voting rights to former felons. But support drops to 66% for people convicted of a violent crime, 63% for a non-violent or financial gain conviction, and 52% for sex offenders. Based on this study, the majority of Americans actually favor the idea of felons having their rights restored upon completion of their sentence. Voting is a very cherished right in America, so of course it should be temporarily restricted as punishment. However, long term restriction could be seen as unnecessary or excessive. Most big time crimes and offenses are usually punished accordingly, with life sentences or death penalty. For lesser offenses like theft or arson criminals shouldn’t be punished furthermore. The time they spend in federal prison is brutal in itself, they should be able to return to as normal a life they possibly can after they are released. If rights were restored to felons no longer incarcerated, a staggering 4 million of the 5.6 million Americans affected would have their rights fully restored. 4 million. 4 million votes unaccounted for every year. A restoration would cause a monumental change in the election process. If current and former felons had been allowed to vote, the outcome of at least seven U.S. Senate races and one presidential election since 1978 might have been different. In 1978 two of the 32 Senate elections, might have had different results if not for felon disenfranchisement, and this would have increased the Democrat majority from 58:41 to 60:39. Of the 32 senators elected, the party who previously held the office retained its seat through at least 2002 in 23 cases. The outcome of arguably the most controversial presidential race in history, (2000 Bush vs. Gore), would almost for sure have been different if voting rights been restored in any way to felons. Had only ex-felons in Florida had the right to vote and participated at the rate of other Floridians with the Democratic preference, they would have earned an additional 60,000 votes for Gore. Although they are just popular votes, and the electoral votes are the ones that matter, the influence would have been more than enough to surpass Bush and give Gore the Florida victory and ultimately the presidential victory.

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