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Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 11:28:00 PM EST
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Major kudos to Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack who is restoring the right to vote to felons who have completed serving their sentences.

The governor's order, which he plans to sign on July 4, will make an estimated 80,000 ex-felons eligible to vote. Advocates hope that the order, which comes after a similar restoration of voting rights in Nebraska, will encourage other states with similarly restrictive laws to broaden voting privileges for ex-felons.

Nationally, about 4.7 million people are ineligible to vote because of felony convictions, about 500,000 of them war veterans, according to the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes alternatives to incarceration. About 1.4 million are black men.

Iowa had one of the most restrictive bans in the country.

Mr. Vilsack, a Democrat who has been called a dark-horse presidential candidate for the 2008 election, pointed to research showing that ex-prisoners who vote are less likely to end up back in prison.

"When you've paid your debt to society, you need to be reconnected and re-engaged to society," Mr. Vilsack said yesterday at a news conference, where he was joined by Democratic and Republican legislators who had pushed for the change.

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    Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote | 16 comments (16 topical)
    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#1)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    I support each state's right to make this determination, and agree that Mr. Vilsack made the right one. Disenfranchising felons creates a perverse incentive, one that should be avoided, lest it be abused.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    Felons are forbidden from buying a firearm, too. Should that restriction be repealed? Sex offenders are forbidden from holding certain jobs or living too close to schools or parks. Should those restrictions be repealed?

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    As to the first, yes, if the conviction was not for a violent crime. As to the second, yes, period.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#4)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    TL, As to the second ... no. Pls review the research before rebutting. Your position is untenable.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#5)
    by Beck on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    ras, The 45 year old man across the street is labeled as a sexual offender on the county Web site. This is due to an incident that occurred when he was 19 and his girlfriend was 15. Why can't he live near a school? According to your research, how many sex offenders committed their crime against a random victim at the local schoolyard or park? How many of those offenders lived near the park or school at the time?

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#6)
    by krazycory on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    here in utah us ex-cons can vote but i would gladly trade my voting right for my gun rights back! i think its stupid that they throw all of us into the same catagory. i think its just another way to try to get gun control. i was strung out on meth and never ever had a violent crime but because i was a (still am)a drug addict i can never go hunting again

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#7)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    “ … but because i was a (still am)a drug addict i can never go hunting again …” I’m more concerned about your ability to defend yourself. Folks with current and past involvement in black markets are necessarily proximate to people with violent lifestyles. TL- If violent felons can have their access to firearms restricted, by extension sex offenders can have their access the ‘tools of their trade’ restricted as well. Although I’m not overly familiar with sex offenders I could imagine this might be something like access to the internet for child predators or perhaps past jobs a serial rapist used to gain access to private residences (pizza delivery, home repair, domestic work, and so forth).

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:11 PM EST
    um...I'm gonna go ahead and say, "Yay" as to keeping the gun out of the meth-addict's hands. But, good for Iowa. If ex-cons have paid their debt to society, they need to be give their societal privilages back.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:13 PM EST
    We will run into problems when we pic and choose which rights are restored to which ex-cons. Plus the fact that it is not just to deny rights to ex-cons. The right to vote , the right to bear arms, all rights should be restored once an ex-con has paid his debt. Period. Always err on the side of freedom.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:13 PM EST
    Take a banker convicted of felony embezzlement. He is forbidden from ever owning a firearm, even though his crime was nonviolent. I don't see why that restriction is any more justified than not letting him vote.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#11)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:14 PM EST
    Ern, Your two sentences contradicted each other. If KC is a recovered addict and paid his felony debt, then why does he not get the same priviledges back. I realize voting and gun ownership are two different issues, but KC's crimes apparently involved neither. Your "Yay" decision on his part shows a bias that he may relapse, and that his priviledge should be restricted on that basis.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#13)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:14 PM EST
    Sorry Ern, I don't get your humor. That kind of contradiction is the norm for many bush**lickers that I've interacted with. It doesn't come off as funny at all. Do you come here to lighten up? Wow.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:14 PM EST
    "Posted by pigwiggle: "Folks with current and past involvement in black markets are necessarily proximate to people with violent lifestyles." Proximity to violence is unavoidable in this society. But I'm glad to hear that you think Rush Limbaugh should be carefully watched because he is 'proximate to people with violent lifestyles.' I knew that bastard was dangerous. He's a pathological liar, too, as I'm sure you know. "I’m not overly familiar with sex offenders" Apparently not. But that doesn't stop you from wanting to permanently condemn them. Most are from the family. They have access to the 'tools' of their trade by that association.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:14 PM EST
    Woah, that whole 2nd part of my comment just blew right past you, huh? =P Wasn't really important anyway.

    Re: Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:14 PM EST
    Ern, the 'double standard,' incarnate.

    Iowas right to restore Felons right to vote (none / 0) (#17)
    by computergeek29 on Tue Jan 01, 2008 at 09:44:40 PM EST
    Ok Here goes 7 yrs ago I was charged with burglary in the third I had some items in a so called friend fathers storage shed and well items were messed with when.I got home I called the police and told them the incident and guess what they came got the items and a week later I was charged with burglary in the 3rd.They rescheduled the  court date and forgot to tell me.I missed the next one and was automatically found guilty for it the father was the mayor at the time who did not like me and lied about what was missing in the shed with about 7,000 dollars worth of tools.I supposedly took and I am paying the price for it. I had one job tell me to my face that sorry we are not hiring any felons at this time you don't know how bad that hurts until it happens and now I can't vote,hunt and not even considered a citizen I don't matter And I would like to see my right to vote and hunt restored am I wrong for that?

    Iowa to Restore Felon's Right to Vote | 16 comments (16 topical)