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International Disenfranchisement Overview

The table below presents an overview of how 45 "democratic" countries regulate voting for felons.

The data below have been collated by Brandon Rottinghaus, PhD in his article "Incarceration and Enfranchisement: International Practices, Impact, and Recommendations for Reform,"  (PDF 209KB) (Washington, D.C.: International Foundation for Election Systems, 2003) and Jeff Manza, PhD and Christopher Uggen, PhD, as reported in their 2006 book Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy (Oxford University Press).

Democracy is defined as follows:

"A democracy is necessarily constructed of those who are given voice in the political process. Each country listed and analyzed in this study has a specific reason for disenfranchising prisoners or ex-prisoners, seeking a balance between the public order for the protection of society and the extension of democratic voting rights to individual citizens. The tenor and tilt of this balance can be questioned for the same reason that the balance exists in the first place: democracies allow the public will to be translated (although not perfectly) into policy action."
 June-July 2003 Brandon Rottinghaus

Many countries, including the United States, have disenfranchisement laws that vary based on specific factors, such as the type of crime committed or the felon's state of residence. In the case of the U.S., Belgian, Finland, and Germany, varied voting regulations have necessitated the listing of those countries in two categories. These four instances are footnoted below. Of the 45 countries listed below:

  • 19 have no voting restrictions on felons, permitting them to vote while in prison or jail
  • 13 have selective voting restrictions, banning voting for felons based upon various criteria
  • 11 have a complete ban on inmate voting (voting while in prison or jail)
  • 6 have some type of voting disenfranchisement for felons after their release from prison or jail
Country No Restriction Selective Restriction
(not all felons are banned from voting)		 Complete Ban on Inmate Voting Postrelease Restrictions
(felons banned from voting after release from prison)
1. Argentina X
2. Armenia X
3. Australia X
4. Austria X
5. Belgium X X1
6. Bosnia X
7. Brazil X
8. Bulgaria X
9. Canada X
10. Chile X
11. Croatia X
12. Czech Republic X
13. Denmark X
14. Estonia X
15. Finland X X2
16. France X
17. Germany X X3
18. Greece X
19. Hungary X
20. Iceland X
21. India X
22. Ireland X
23. Israel X
24. Italy X
25. Latvia X
26. Lithuania X
27. Luxembourg X
28. Macedonia X
29. Malta X
30. New Zealand X
31. Norway X
32. Poland X
33. Portugal X
34. Romania X
35. Russia X
36. San Marino X
37. Serbia X
38. Slovenia X
39. Spain X
40. South Africa X
41. Sweden X
42. Switzerland X
43. United States X4 X4
44. United Kingdom X
45. Ukraine X
Totals
 19 13 11 6

1 Belgium bans felons from voting after release from jail if sentence was for over seven years.
2 Finland bans felons from voting for up to seven years after imprisonment.
3 Germany bans felons from voting only in rare cases if ordered by the court.
4 United States bans felons from voting in some states, but not in others. Two states permit felons to vote while in prison.