NYT Discusses Issue of Felon Disenfranchisement

The NYT published an interesting op-ed regarding the issue of felon disenfranchisement this week.

The United States maintains a shortsighted and punitive set of laws, some of them dating back to Reconstruction, denying the vote to people who have committed felonies. They will bar about 5.85 million people from voting in this year’s election. 

In the states with the most draconian policies — including Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi and Virginia — more than 7 percent of the adult population is barred from the polls, sometimes for life. Nationally, nearly half of those affected have completed their sentences, including parole or probation. 

Policies that deny voting rights to people who have paid their debt to society offend fundamental tenets of democracy.  

But the problem is made even worse by state and local election officials so poorly informed about the law that they misinform or turn away people who have a legal right to vote.
 

Click here to link to the full piece.