by TChris

Laws that disenfranchise felons who have finished their prison terms undermine democracy. They also have a disproportionate impact on African American voters.

Today, nearly 5 million Americans are disfranchised from the right to vote either because they are in prison, on parole or probation, or because they live in a state that extends disfranchisement beyond the end of one's sentence. Racial, ethnic and economic disparities in the criminal justice system, and the "war on drugs" have resulted in the most severe impact hitting communities of color. Where African-Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses, causing critics to call the war on drugs the "New Jim Crow." Nationally, an estimated 13 percent of African-American men are unable to vote because of a felony conviction. That's seven times the national average.

AlterNet has an interview with Sasha Abramsky, author of Conned: How Millions of Americans Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House. Importantly, Abramsky explodes the myth that former felons wouldn't vote if given the chance.