In the wake of the contested election of 2000, many Americans were shocked to learn that up to 800,000 citizens in Florida were legally barred from voting because of a felony conviction. These citizens were disproportionately from communities of color, and were among some 4.7 million Americans nationwide who cannot participate in elections because of felony disenfranchisement statutes.
Further examination reveals an uneven patchwork quilt of state laws, ranging from some states that do not take away voting rights at all because of a felony conviction, to a number of states that permanently disenfranchise people with felony convictions, resulting in astonishing percentages of citizens deprived of the right to vote.
Over the last several years, an energetic movement has sprung up across the United States aimed at restoring voting rights to millions of citizens excluded from our nation’s democratic process. Some states have changed their laws in the past two years to ease the voting rights restoration process.
Demos is proud to be part of this continuing effort. We are currently part of a national collaborative effort of eight organizations, seeking to challenge the constitutionality of felony disenfranchisement laws, repeal or modify these laws
through legislative action, and to educate citizens about their voting rights under current statutes. Our partners are the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, People for the American Way, and The Sentencing Project.
This report by political scientist Alec Ewald is an invaluable contribution to those who seek to understand felony disenfranchisement laws. Ewald examines the history of felony disenfranchisement laws, tracing their early development in liberal theory and their explicit racist heritage in the post-Civil War South. He outlines the arguments marshaled in favor of disenfranchisement, and presents a persuasive case that these laws are in conflict with America’s best ideals and traditions of democracy, and do not further the goals of criminal justice either.
De–mos is pleased to present this thoughtful work on a critical challenge for American democracy. We view changing these statutes as one important element of a broader agenda of eliminating barriers to participation in our election process, and, in so doing, helping to achieve a move vibrant and inclusive democracy. For action toolkits on this issue and additional research reports, please view our resource page at www.demos-usa.org/votingrights.
