Active and passive voting rights of felons

When the US election takes place on November 5th, not everyone will be allowed to go to the polls. A large group of victims are criminals. About four million felons are denied the right to vote. This is almost two percent of the eligible voters.

Voting rights regulations vary from state to state. In most US states, felons lose their right to vote while in prison. By 2022, a total of four million people were excluded from voting, according to a University of Minnesota database.

States with stricter regulations include Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and Kentucky. Most people in Florida are affected. According to a study by The Sentencing Project, 961,000 of the ineligible offenders are from Florida, a quarter of the total. The Sentencing Project is a non-profit organization that restores voting rights to felons.

Instead Vermont, Maine, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Only in these states do convicts have full voting rights. Here, criminals are even allowed to opt out of prison.

Once the fine is paid, victims can usually regain their right to vote if they meet certain requirements and submit an application to the authorities. In a total of seven US states, felons can only get their voting rights back if they meet conditions such as paying all their fines.

However, some of the convicts are so poor that they cannot afford to pay the fine imposed by the court in addition to their sentence. Even ex-felons who meet all the requirements sometimes fail to get their voting rights back.

Many victims do not know the process or their rights. Applying to restore voting rights is so complicated that some people need to hire an attorney. Some of the victims never regained the right to vote and were therefore excluded from democratic participation for life.

Human rights groups criticize the US for denying criminals their rights. In a study, Human Rights Watch concludes that the United States has particularly strict regulations. Of the 136 countries examined, the majority never or rarely denied the right to vote because of a criminal conviction.

Between 1976 and 2016, the number of convicted U.S. citizens without the right to vote rose from one million to nearly six million. Since then, the number has dropped by a third.

This is because states have loosened their laws in recent years. Most recently, the Supreme Court in Nebraska ruled that 7,000 citizens who have completed their sentences can vote again on November 5th. The growth is also due to the fact that there are fewer people in prison today than before.

Eleven states have loosened their laws in recent years. In some countries reform efforts are repeated. Their success depends on political leadership. Florida held a successful referendum in 2018 to loosen the law. But the Florida state legislature decided otherwise.

Various legal actions are underway against Donald Trump. He is the first former US president to be convicted of a crime. The so-called hush money trial won't be announced until after the US elections. But this is already clear: according to US law, Trump can become president even if he receives a prison sentence.

Anyone who is a US citizen, at least 35 years old and has lived in the US for 14 years can become president. Also, the Constitution states that the President cannot hold office for more than two terms. Nominations for public office by persons convicted of criminal offenses are not excluded under US law.

That means Donald Trump, who has been convicted of a criminal offense, is legally allowed to become president again. This is especially incomprehensible to disenfranchised people. Florida-based activist Desmond Mayday believes Republican politicians should be specifically addressed:

“If you want to elect someone convicted of a serious crime as president of the United States, you should be especially interested in passing laws that allow people to participate in the democratic process after conviction.”

Black Americans are three times more disenfranchised than whites. The roots of disenfranchisement go back to the end of slavery in the 19th century, and there was a calculation behind it. States in the South in particular condemned African Americans on often outrageous charges. They only got the right to vote when it was abolished by law.

Its purpose was to prevent African Americans from speaking out in politics. The law also targeted the poor and whites. The political elite wanted to make sure they didn't elect the “wrong” people.

jk, brown