by TChris

TalkLeft has frequently argued (examples here and here) that felons, like every other citizen, have a stake in society and should have the right to vote -- particularly after they've paid for their crime by serving their time. Some who comment here scoff at the notion of rehabilitation and smugly assert that liberals want ex-offenders to have voting rights because ex-offenders are likely to vote for Democrats. Tell that to John Barcyk, who voted by absentee ballot for President Bush. Barcyk is serving 35 years for a double murder.

Barcyk is incarcerated in Maine, one of two states that allow prisoners to vote. Is it fair that he can vote from prison when felons in states like Iowa don't have voting rights restored automatically after they've been released from prison? This commentator in the Des Moines Register argues that a parent who works, pays taxes, and sends her kid to school should have a say in how her taxes are spent and who serves on the school board.

Stephanie Fawkes-Lee, president of the Metro Des Moines League of Women Voters, says it's a danger to democracy not to restore voting rights. Yet she says public opposition to doing so comes from both Democrats and Republicans. She calls it a "lack of forgiveness."

[Marty] Ryan is blunter. "Some people think that we need to hate them forever," he says.