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The right to vote is one of the fundamental rights of every American as entrenched in the U.S. Constitution. However, millions of Americans have been stripped of this right with many being denied this right for the rest of their lives. One of the groups that have been stripped of the right to vote is convicted felons. Most of the existing state laws bar convicted felons from voting even after they have been released from prisoner unless they are granted clemency by the state governor (Gonchar par, 1). Despite the widespread adoption of such state regulations, the right to vote for ex-convicted felons have become a major issue in the recent past. There are debates on whether felons who have served their time in incarceration facilities should be permitted to vote upon release. Ex-convicted felons who have demonstrated the principles of good citizenship after being set free should be allowed to vote.
Controversies Regarding the Issue
The right to vote for ex-convicted felons has emerged as one of the most controversial issues in the United States in the recent past given that it has attracted huge debates and different views. People who support the prohibition of ex-convicted felons from voting have raised several arguments to support their claims including the fact such prohibition is consistent with other limitations on voting including sanity, age, and residency. They also contend ex-convicted felons should be barred from voting because such measures are consistent with...
The other argument used by these individuals to support their view is the fact that convicted felons have already demonstrated poor judgment and should therefore not be trusted to make good judgments when voting. By making wrong choices and judgments in their social lives, convicted felons prove that they cannot be trusted to make the right choices when voting and should therefore be prohibited from voting.
However, these claims have been countered by those who support the idea that ex-convicted felons should be permitted to vote upon release from prison. One of the arguments used to support this view is the fact that felons are affected by regulations or laws enacted by politicians at the various levels of government. These politicians make laws that affect nearly every aspect of a felon’s life even after release from prison. Therefore, since ex-convicted felons are part of the nation’s democratic system, they should be permitted to choose people (i.e. politicians) who make laws that affect them. Secondly, they argue that stripping ex-convicted felons of their right to vote has become an avenue for racist policies by states. These regulations have provided a premise through which state utilize the criminal justice system to prevent certain races like Blacks from fully engaging in society (Gonchar par, 3). By preventing ex-convicted felons from voting, state regulations disproportionately lock up…
Works Cited
Gonchar, Michael. "Should Felons Be Allowed to Vote After They Have Served Their Time?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2014, http://www.learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/should-convicted-felons-be-allowed-to-vote-after-theyve-served-their-time/?mcubz=1.
Weeks, Daniel. "Should Felons Lose the Right to Vote?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Jan. 2014, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/should-felons-lose-the-right-to-vote/282846/.
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