Restoring democracy
While Maryland now allows former felons to vote, the battle isn't
over
By U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and Jack Kemp
Baltimore Sun
February 15, 2008
Last year, The Sun told the story of Damond Ramsey, a man who, after
serving an 18-month prison sentence, went to work for an HIV testing
and education program. But without the right to vote, he said he didn't
feel like a full citizen.
"That change cannot be complete unless I can vote," he said.
"My vote will make a difference in the lives of my children."
Fortunately, Maryland is one of several states that have restored voting
rights for people who want to move on with their lives and integrate
back into society. Last year, 52,000 people became eligible to vote
after Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the Voter Registration Protection
Act.
In 2006, the people of Rhode Island approved a constitutional amendment
allowing formerly incarcerated people the right to vote upon leaving
prison. And we have also seen progress toward voting rights restoration
in Florida, which traditionally made it very difficult for people with
felony records to regain the right to vote.
But even as voting restoration grows, we have a long way to go. In
addition to the 11 states that continue to deny voting rights to people
with felony convictions after they have completed their sentences, 35
states deny the right to parolees, and 30 states deny the right to those
on probation. In a few states, including Virginia, felons are disenfranchised
for life, with no appeal.
For a nation that depends on the participation of its citizens, it
is fundamentally un-American to deny the vote to people who are living
and working as law-abiding citizens. Furthermore, the more doors we
close on people trying to rejoin society, the more likely it is we will
drive them back to the behaviors we want them to leave behind.
That is why we are proposing a federal law - the Democracy Restoration
Act - to allow people on probation or parole, or who have served their
sentences, to freely exercise their fundamental right to vote.
Later this year, Americans will determine the next president of the
United States. But millions remain disenfranchised because of a dangerous
anachronism: civil death.
The principle of civil death, a vestige of the Middle Ages, declared
that convicted criminals were outlaws - irrevocably expelled from society.
Perhaps civil death made sense in a land of kings and peasants, but
it has no place in America today. And yet it has endured: an estimated
4 million people with felony convictions have been stripped of their
voting rights even though they have rejoined society.
Civil death in America has an explicitly racist past. It is no accident
that it disproportionately affects African-Americans. Nationwide, 13
percent of all African-American men are disenfranchised; in some states,
it is almost 25 percent. Like the poll tax and the grandfather clause,
civil death was a tool of Jim Crow.
People on probation and parole are expected to obey the law, pay taxes
and contribute to society. Those who commit crimes should pay the price.
But once the criminal justice system has determined that they are ready
to return to the community, they should receive the rights and responsibilities
that come with that status, and should not continue to be relegated
to second-class citizenship.
This movement by a number of states toward re-enfranchisement is a
positive step, but civil death is a national problem that harms our
democracy. Our proposed federal law would ensure that once people have
served their time, their right to vote in a federal election would be
restored. (We hope states would follow suit regarding state and local
elections.) This approach also reduces administrative hurdles and Election
Day confusion over who should and should not be allowed to vote.
There are many people across the country like Mr. Ramsey - people who
broke the law, paid the price and now want to move forward with their
lives by contributing to their city, their state and their country.
The continuing expansion of the franchise - to the poor, women, minorities
and young people - is one of the greatest stories in our country's history.
With Election Day less than nine months away, there is no time to lose
in restoring our democracy for so many of our citizens.
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