Tonight, caught just a bit of The Nightside Project. I think it was Ethan who said he doesn't see a compelling reason for not giving those guilty of felonies the right to vote.
Later, I web searched and read how Utah, about a dozen years ago, was one of four states that did allow felons the right to vote. Reading at www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/usvot98o.htm, it said Utah was one of four states. Alas, that post was ancient, as the same web site, sentencingproject.org, different page, noted that in 1998, Utah disinfranchised its incarcerated felons.
This is from the first web page, the out-of-date one, and although (unless part of the page has been update) the figures are out of date, it does lend a persuasive feel against outlawing voting by felons. "Today," it says, "all mentally competent adults have the right to vote with only one exception: convicted criminal offenders. . . . While felony disenfranchisement laws should be of concern in any democracy, the scale of their impact in the United States is unparalleled: an estimated 3.9 million U.S. citizens are disenfranchised."
I join Ethan, the Human Rights Watch and the Utah of our past in saying felons should be allowed to vote. Everyone should have the right to vote, not just those determined to be of high enough moral standing. Is it that we do not think they deserve the right to vote? I think they should. Is it that we do not want government influenced by them? I think that should be allowed, whether they influence it for good or bad. It is the right of society to reflect either good or bad at the ballot box. If the voice of the people chooses bad, so be it.
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