Bernie Sanders Got It Right on CNN: Felons Ought to Be Allowed to Vote

[Donkees]

There are some rights felons should give up. But voting isn’t one of them. It’s really just a ploy to preserve white rural power.

Andrew Novak
04.24.19 5:21 AM ET


Excerpts:

The most important consequence of allowing prisoners to vote is that it would remove the incentives for “prison gerrymandering.” In most U.S. states, prisoners are counted by the census based on where they are incarcerated, not where they are registered to vote. Because most large prisons are in sparsely populated rural areas, prison complexes have an important effect on gerrymandering.

Many prisoners are racial minorities or people who live in urban areas, which means these places lose voting population, while more conservative areas gain nonvoting population. This advantages Republican congressmen in places like upstate New York, who benefit from inflated populations for redistricting purposes, but have nothing to fear at election time. Prisoner disenfranchisement therefore contributes to a structural disparity that causes Congress and state legislatures to be more conservative than the public at large.

While many states are in the process of revising their laws to allow ex-prisoners to vote, voting by current prisoners only exists in Maine, Puerto Rico, and Vermont—the latter represented by Sanders in the U.S. Senate. In addition, the trend across the developed world is to allow at least some prisoners to vote. The supreme courts of South Africa, Canada, and Israel have legalized voting for at least some prisoners. The European Court of Human Rights has also rejected blanket prohibitions on prisoner voting, though it has allowed exceptions.

Prisoner voting is already underway in some states and developed countries, so it is hardly a revolutionary position. Overbroad restrictions on voting help ensure that politicians select their own voters, rather than voters electing their own politicians.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-got-it-right-on-cnn-felons-ought-to-be-allowed-to-vote

[Donkees]

1. Over Half Of Americans Have Had A Family Member Incarcerated [Infographic]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/12/07/over-half-of-americans-have-had-a-family-member-incarcerated-infographic/#2f9c3fc43e4f

[Donkees]

2. South Carolina has a higher incarceration rate than any country on Earth.

Link to tweet

[dogman]

3. Everyone is worried about convicts voting even though the non-convicted vote.

Link to tweet

How about the Native Americans that were convicted for opposing the pipeline? And others exercising their rights?