Voting should not be a privilege that can be revoked as a punishment for a crime. Voting should be a civic obligation, a compulsory and expected duty of all citizens within a democracy. It’s not a treat reserved for the best, smartest, or most law-abiding of us, but a responsibility of all of us- like paying taxes.
That means that, yes, felons should have the right to vote. It means that yes, voting should me mandatory.
Anyone who argues that it is a GOOD thing that certain groups of people don’t vote or are under-represented in voting for any reason does not properly value the function that voting serves in a healthy democracy.
I mean at most i think, since the whole point of prison as a punishment is taking the person out of society, a felons right to vote should be suspended while they’re in jail as an extension of that? But yeah permanent disenfranchisement of felons is INSANE and needs to STOP.
Voting should not be a privilege that can be revoked as a punishment for a crime.
Our justice system is far from perfect. Especially given how prevalent plea bargains are and how easily they can be abused. Given how it really ISNT uncommon for people to be falsely convicted and later exonerated. People have even been exonerated AFTER BEING PUT TO DEATH in this country.
Given that we know that racial minorities are routinely given LONGER sentences for the same crime as white people. And given that we know that some laws, mainly drug laws, have been used SPECIFICALLY to target minorities for political reasons.
And, hey, people in prison still pay taxes. They are still citizens. Laws and politicians voted on still affect them.
There’s a whole conversation to be had here about whether or not prisons should even be seen as a punishment (instead of say, rehabilitation which we KNOW works better at lowering recidivism rates. But that’s not good for the for-profit prison system the US has.)
But voting isn’t a privilege. It’s not a reward for being a good person. It’s a duty.
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