Felons and voting, what's the connection or necessity?

Question

I can understand someone convicted of embezzling not

working for a bank or an accounting firm.

I can understand someone convicted of molestation not

working in day care.

But, what possible public or civic service is being served

by denying felons the right to vote other than to further

disenfranchise them from the rest of society and given

the disproportionate number of minorities convicted compared to whites of identical backgrounds charged with identical

offenses, adding an ethnic disproportionate disenfranchisement to the voting process?

Are there that many felons shamed and humiliated into a

better life as a direct result of being denied the right to vote

or is it just a lingering political tool used to control votes

(such as in Florida in the 2000 election)?

Can anyone explain this to me?

Answer 1

You automatically lose rights when you break the law or physically or sexually harm someone. Convicts will always vote bad people in the government, locally and nationally. I can probably say there are a few exceptions where a bad person wants to become good and seriously wants to be a good citizen and is willing to vote honestly in whatever election he wants to pick.

It is not a lingering political tool used to control votes. Nobodys vote was controlled in Florida. Only liberals would think and assume that kind of thought process. Losing your right to vote does not disenfranchise anything at all. You only disenfranchise yourself by breaking the law.

Answer 2

Many States do not stop felons from voting once they have repaid their debt to society.

Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist is trying, if indeed he has not already succeeded, to change that antiquated law still on their books.

I doubt that would have had anything to do with the out come of the 2000 Presidential Election though.  The paid for vote won that election not the popular vote. The popular vote would have never let Lil' Bush into office.

Answer 3

It is a moralistic and vengeance-based law.  I believe that anyone who has completed his sentence, whether incarcerated or by parole or probation, should have his right to vote restored, as long as his crime did not involve violence against persons.  I suppose it's splitting hairs, but I feel that anyone who can deny someone his human right to live should not be allowed to decide laws or public servants.

Answer 4

Does Ollie North vote?

I bet he does.

Answer 5

Becoming a felon and going to prison, entitles you to lose all your civil liberties. You violated the freedom that was allowed so once you s***w that up it is over. We are dealing with the government, not GOD. He is the only one that can truly forgive us all and give us several chances over and over again. Why would you want to trust someone who has shot and killed your family member while molesting your 2 year old relative with something as important as electing the persons who run our government and country?

Answer 6

I wish I knew..I'm a felon (working on getting a pardon bc my involvement in the crime was not voluntary - the other person also murdered my mother a few months later) and it's been 6 years and I just recently got my voting rights restored.  But I'm still shut out of many careers for which I am more than qualified because of it.  I was also denied financial aid for college (I was in school when I was convicted).  It seems like the government wants to keep criminals instead of rehabilitate them, by leaving them almost no other way to make a living.  When I was first released from the county jail, they gave me back the money I had in the form of a check (it was 11:30 pm) and wouldn't let me use the phone to call someone to pick me up.  So I had to hop the train to get home and was almost arrested by the PATCO cops, luckily they sympathized with me...probably bc I'm a girl...and paid for my ticket home.  I was thinking, if I was a male or black, I probably would have been arrested again.

Answer 7

Felons chose to make the mistake for which they were convicted. Part of the punishment for this mistake is that American society excommunicates them, doesn't give them a job, a place to live, any chances at a better life, any sympathy, or any of the Constitutional rights guaranteed to Americans since they aren't Americans anymore, they are convicts. If they wanted to vote, then they shouldn't have actively chosen to make a mistake in the first place.

Answer 8

I agree with your thoughts on this. If a person is convicted or NOT they should be allowed the right to vote. I can understand the logic behind the reason you listed as well as FELONS NOT being allowed to carry firearms. And there are more things they should NOT be allowed to do. BUT VOTING? No I'm sorry they should be allowed to vote.