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In reply to the discussion: BREAKING: Virginia Gov. McAuliffe Announces Major Restoration of Voting Rights to 206k Former Felons [View all]Igel
(35,462 posts)The right to vote is taken away upon conviction. It's not taken away after you're returned to civil society.
Note that in every state I've read up on there are ways for ex-felons to get their right to vote restored. In some cases they require a review board showing that you're an upstanding citizen and rehabilitated. In other cases, it's a pro forma application. "Hey, can I vote?" "Sure, here ya go."
That many do not know this is simply a sad fact--many voters in NYS didn't realize after years of living there that the primaries were closed, so ignorance isn't just the province of ex-felons. I have to wonder if NYS is like my home state years ago--late in our junior year, before any voter registration deadlines and before we turned 18, we were given voter registration forms, how to fill them out, and the basic voting laws were explained to us. We had sample voting machine bits and were taught how to use them. (And did it matter? For those who were engaged, sure. For those who were low-information voters, those who might vote a single issue or candidate, for the disengaged, no.)
Odds are that many simply don't care that they can't vote: When voter turnout is under 50%, I have to assume that around 50% of the ex-felons (at least) wouldn't vote anyway and that any hurdle (even weatherstripping on a threshold) would be too high. For many, simply knowing the voting laws in their state is too big a civic responsibility to ask an informed, responsible citizen to be aware of.