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Did You Know?
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Little Known Facts In The Felon Voting Debate:
- 22.4% of America's 5.26 million disenfranchised felons live in Florida.
- Florida has the highest percentage of disenfranchised voters (9.01%) of any state. Delaware, at 7.54%, is second, and Alabama, at 7.37%, is third.
- In 2005, the total U.S. prison population was 2,212,475 - larger than 15 U.S. states and large enough to qualify for five Electoral College votes if it constituted a state of its own.
- In Maine and Vermont (and no other states) felons are permitted to vote while in prison.
- Five states disenfranchise people convicted of certain misdemeanors - Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, and Maryland.
- For a convicted felon to vote in Mississippi, his or her state representative must author a bill, get it passed by both houses of the state legislature, and have it signed by the Governor.
- 1 in 4 jail inmates in 2002 were incarcerated for a drug offense, compared to 1 in 10 in 1983.
- In 2002, the U.S. Senate voted 63-31 against legislation that would have restored voting rights to ex-felons voting in federal elections.
- Per 100,000 male members of each race, 465 Whites, 1,231 Hispanics, and 3,405 Blacks were sentenced to prison in 2003.
- In 2004, the Alabama Republican Party Chair stated that the party was "opposed to [restoring voting rights] because felons don't tend to vote Republican."
- In medieval Germany [1200s-1500s] convicted criminals lost their ability to vote, had their property confiscated, and had to go "live in the forest."
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