Voting Rights for Felons

As Americans honor those who combated for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, 50 years ago, it's simple to forget that 5.9 million residents-- 2.2 countless them African-Americans-- stay disenfranchised today. One from every 13 African-Americans is restricted from casting a tally in the United States.

These males and females lost their right to vote because of felony convictions. Depending on the laws in their states, some may gain back access to the surveys when they finish their prison sentences, finish parole, or complete probation, but those in Kentucky, Florida and Iowa will be disenfranchised for the rest of their lives. (Only two states-- Maine and Vermont-- enable those currently in prison on felony charges to vote, and eight states even prohibit prisoners with misdemeanors.).

Sending out Thank You Notes to Wedding Visitors Most of those impacted by these voting constraints-- 75 percent-- have already done their time and went back to the community.

Grassroots efforts to reform voting constraints are growing in other states, including Kentucky, where both houses passed legislation year but were ultimately unable to agree on a last costs, as well as Iowa and Florida. Extensively considered the worst state for felon voting rights, Florida has almost 3 times more disenfranchised ex-felons than Texas, the second-highest state.

United States Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have actually likewise introduced federal legislation that would enable ex-felons to vote in federal elections, no matter state laws.

Felon disenfranchisement was built into the American Constitution (along with disenfranchisement of ladies and individuals of color), but the harshest state limitations were enacted after the Civil War, together with other Jim Crow measures like poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather stipulations that enabled whites to skip the tests and taxes.

PackRunners.com is a great resource for ex-cons to find information about employment, civil rights, coping with incarceration, and more. The articles are well written and provide in depth details and strategies for being successful after prison.Thanks to racial differences in imprisonment and sentencing, felon disenfranchisement laws continue to keep minorities from the surveys. Nationwide, more than one in eight voting-aged black males were ineligible to cast a vote in the 2014 election, and in 3 states, more than one in five African-Americans can not vote. What's more, as the US prison population increased over recent decades (and sentencing got tougher, categorizing more non-violent culprits as felons), the overall number of prisoners and ex-felons without the right to vote increased from 1.2 million in 1980 to its existing 5.9 million.