Doing One's Time

Kevin Drum yesterday brought up something I’ve put off writing about but I think is important. It was back in 2000 I first discovered some states prohibit felons, who have served their sentences, from voting. I think this is wrong. Kevin spells it out better than I can:

If you asked me to name the most fundamental rights of U.S. citizen — the
absolute minimum core that we could have and still call ourselves America — I'd
name three: freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, and the right to vote.
The government should not be in the business of limiting any of these things
except in the most extreme cases.

Felons who have paid their debt have paid their debt. Once they've served their time, their right to free speech and their right to a fair trial are restored, and I can't think of any reason why their right to vote shouldn't be too. If you're a citizen, you should get to vote, period.

I agree with that 100%. Fortunately it’s not an issue here in Illinois.

In the comments section of Kevin’s post, several people bring up the fact that the constitution does not guarantee anyone the “right” to vote. Rather it’s left up to the states. I understand that and I don’t think Kevin was invoking the Constitution but rather expressing a general belief in what America stands for -a belief I share.

I’m not sure where this notion of denying felons the vote came from. Perhaps it was just another cheap “get tough on crime” proposition that politicians pull out when they need some media face time. I don’t know.

One thing that confuses me is what this is supposed to accomplish. It certainly can’t be deterrence. I mean, if prison didn’t discourage the perp, what makes anyone think losing the right to vote would dissuade anyone from committing a crime? (Actually, even prison sentences have a limited effect on deterrence, I think, because no criminal thinks he/she is going to get caught, but that’s a topic for another day).

Those who like this idea of denying felons the vote cite laws that deny felons the right to own guns. To that I would say I think a felon who didn’t use a gun in a crime should be no more restricted from gun ownership than anyone else. Likewise, voting rights. I guess if someone’s felony involved, say voter fraud or setting fire to voting booths, a sentence might be imposed barring the individual from voting. But beyond that, it’s just arbitrary punishment. Things like this should be left up to the judge.

Keep in mind, too, what happened in Florida in 2000. Thousands of potential voters were incorrectly identified as felons and denied the vote. Given how close the election was there that year, this “error” quite possibly could have decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election