Let Ex-Felons VoteBy Rob Richie
Published August 13th 2001
To the Editor:
Re "A Halfhearted Push for Reform" (editorial, Aug. 6):
The electoral reform commission certainly could have been bolder about reform proposals like setting federal standards for redistricting and ensuring candidates win major elections with an absolute majority of the vote. But you do not credit the commission's bravest recommendation: restoration of voting rights to citizens who have served time in jail for felony convictions. Remarkably, 10 states still ban such otherwise eligible citizens from voting for life.
In Florida, that lifetime ban means that more than 600,000 adults cannot vote, including nearly a third of African-American men. Yet studies show that one of the best indicators of future voter participation is whether one's parents voted. By making ex- felons permanent outcasts from our elections, we are sending a chilling message not only to them, but also to their children.
Rob Richie
Executive Director
Center for Voting and Democracy
August 13, 2001
Re "A Halfhearted Push for Reform" (editorial, Aug. 6):
The electoral reform commission certainly could have been bolder about reform proposals like setting federal standards for redistricting and ensuring candidates win major elections with an absolute majority of the vote. But you do not credit the commission's bravest recommendation: restoration of voting rights to citizens who have served time in jail for felony convictions. Remarkably, 10 states still ban such otherwise eligible citizens from voting for life.
In Florida, that lifetime ban means that more than 600,000 adults cannot vote, including nearly a third of African-American men. Yet studies show that one of the best indicators of future voter participation is whether one's parents voted. By making ex- felons permanent outcasts from our elections, we are sending a chilling message not only to them, but also to their children.
Rob Richie
Executive Director
Center for Voting and Democracy
August 13, 2001