1. Trusting a Felon's Judgment

PRO: "We let ex-convicts marry, reproduce, buy beer, own property and drive. They don't lose their freedom of religion, their right against self-incrimination or their right not to have soldiers quartered in their homes in time of war. But in many places, the assumption is that they can't be trusted to help choose our leaders [...]  If we thought criminals could never be reformed, we wouldn't let them out of prison in the first place."

Steve Chapman
Columnist and Editorial Writer, Chicago Tribune
"Too Many Ex-Convicts Aren't Able to Vote,"
StarTribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul
August 15, 2006

CON: "Now why would we, as citizens, as non-felon citizens, want felons helping to pick our representatives.

If you're a convicted felon, convicted of a violent crime, you have bad judgment. Why do we want people with that judgment picking our representatives?"

2. Crime Deterrence of Felon Disenfranchisement

PRO: "[D]isenfranchisement is unlikely to be effective as a deterrence measure given its relatively low visibility as a consequence of a felony conviction."

Afi S. Johnson-Parris, J.D.
Attorney / Associate, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
"Beyond the Voting Rights Act:
Why We Need a Constitutional Right to Vote"
2003

CON: "Barring felons from voting is one way society sends the message that committing a serious crime has serious consequences."

Roger Clegg, J.D.  
President and General Counsel, Center for Equal Opportunity
"Felon Disenfranchisement Is Constitutional, and Justified"
website of the National Constitution Center
May 7, 2007

PRO: "The foundation of disenfranchisement was laid long before the Reconstruction era and continues to support a structure of African-American disenfranchisement that is more expansive, and impacts not only the individual African-American male ex-felon but also the African-American community as a whole. [...]

Legally, African-Americans have achieved the status of citizen. Practically, African-Americans have to continue to fight obstacles set up to deny their citizenship. Historically, in a number of United States' jurisdictions, African-Americans have had to challenge poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, whites-only primaries, and felon disenfranchisement laws, all designed to prohibit them from voting and thus negate their citizenship. All of the other forms of disenfranchisement have fallen by the wayside, save one — felon disenfranchisement laws."

S. David Mitchell, J.D.
Scholar in Residence, Dept. of Sociology, University of Colorado
"The New Invisible Man: Felon Disenfranchisement Laws Harm Communities," Bad Subjects magazine
December, 2004

CON: "The frequently heard charge is that disenfranchising felons is racist because the felon population is disproportionately black. But the mere fact that blacks make up a lopsided percentage of the nation's prison population doesn't prove that racism is to blame.

Is the mostly male population of the prisons evidence of reverse sexism? Of course not: men commit the vast majority of serious crimes - a fact no one would dispute - and that's why there are lots more of them than women behind bars.

Regrettably, blacks also commit a disproportionate number of felonies, as victim surveys show. In any case, a felon either deserves his punishment or not, whatever his race. If he does, it may also be that he deserves disenfranchisement. His race, in both cases, is irrelevant."

Edward Feser, Ph.D.
Instructor, Pasadena City College
"Should Felons Vote?,"  City Journal
Spring, 2005

PRO : "There are three potential constitutional bases for Congress's authority to enfranchise non-incarcerated offenders for federal elections [...] Under its enforcement powers, Congress can conclude that enfranchisement of non-incarcerated offenders is appropriate to ensure that racial discrimination does not taint federal elections. Congress could also enfranchise non-incarcerated offenders under its Fourteenth Amendment enforcement power based on its determination that laws disenfranchising non-incarcerated felons are arbitrary and irrational."

Gillian E. Metzger, J.D.
Professor of Law, Columbia University Law School
Memorandum to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution
October 20, 1999

CON: "In the United States most attacks on felon disenfranchisement through constitutional litigation have failed. [...]

I conclude that in light of the Supreme Court's new federalism jurisprudence it is uncertain whether the Supreme Court would uphold such a [felon enfranchisement] law as a permissible exercise of congressional power, leaving state legislatures as the prime locus for changes to felon disenfranchisement laws."

Richard L. Hasen, J.D., Ph.D.
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law Chair,
Loyola Law School
"The Uncertain Congressional Power to Ban State Felon Disenfranchisement Laws," Social Science Research Network
November 2005

5. Newspaper Editorial Positions

PRO : "There is no good reason to deny these Americans (felons) the vote [...] It diminishes American democracy to not allow people who have paid their debt to society to help select their leaders."

New York Times
"Restoring the Right to Vote"
January 10, 2006

CON: "Felon voting is still a state issue, and for most of the country, its time still hasn't come. [...] serious lawbreakers should not help elect the country's lawmakers."

Washington Times
"Another No Vote on Felons"
November 21, 2004

6. The Right to Vote

PRO: "The Congress finds that the right of citizens of the United States to vote is a fundamental right."

National Voter Registration Act of 1993
U.S. Congress
October, 1998

CON: "The Equal Protection Clause does not protect the right of all citizens to vote, but rather the right of all qualified citizens to vote."

Alexander v Mineta
U.S. Supreme Court
October 16, 2000

7. Constitutionality of Felon Disenfranchisement

PRO: "The Eighth Amendment 'succinctly prohibits 'excessive' sanctions,' and demands that 'punishment for crime should be graduated and proportioned to the offense.' [...] Thus, the states that continue to exclude all felons permanently are outliers, both within the United States and in the world."

Pamela S. Karlan, J.D.  
Professor of Public Interest Law, Stanford University
"Convictions and Doubts: Retribution, Representation, and the Debate over Felon Disenfranchisement"
Stanford Law Review (Vol. 56, No. 5)
2004

CON: "Unlike any other voting qualification, felon disenfranchisement laws are explicitly endorsed by the text of the Fourteenth Amendment. [...] They are presumptively constitutional. Only a narrow subset of them - those enacted with an invidious, racially discriminatory purpose - is unconstitutional."

Alex Kozinski, J.D.  
Circuit Judge, U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Dissent (PDF) in Farrakhan v. State of Washington
February 24, 2006

8. U.S. Voting Rights Act (VRA)

PRO: "Congress amended Section 2 of the VRA in 1982 to relieve plaintiffs of the burden of proving discriminatory intent. [...]

As a preliminary matter, we agree with the district court that Plaintiff's claim of vote denial is cognizable under Section 2 of the VRA. Felon disenfranchisement is a voting qualification, and Section 2 is clear that any voting qualification that denies citizens the right to vote in a discriminatory manner violates the VRA."

Farrakhan v. State of Washington (PDF)
United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
July 25, 2003

CON: "Here there are persuasive reasons to believe that Congress did not intend to include felon disenfranchisement provisions within the coverage of the Voting Rights Act, and we must therefore look beyond the plain text of the statute in construing the reach of its provisions. [...]

We therefore conclude that [The Voting Rights Act] was not intended to - and thus does not - encompass felon disenfranchisement provisions."

Hayden v. Pataki (PDF)
United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
May 4, 2006

9. Automatic Restoration of the Vote

PRO: "[L]ike any debt, once the citizen has fully repaid, he or she should be afforded the opportunity, except where the most heinous of crimes have been committed, to [automatically] re-enter society with the same rights the citizen had before breaking the law."

Charlie Crist, J.D.
Governor (R), Florida
"Wednesday My View: Florida Must Begin Automatic Restoration of Ex-Offender Rights", Tallahassee.com
April 3, 2007

CON: "The proposal to automatically restore civil rights when leaving prison would restore rights without providing a reasonable period of time to determine if felons are truly rehabilitated or still leading a life of crime."

Bill McCollum, J.D.
Attorney General (R), Florida
"McCollum: Be Responsible About Felons' Rights,"
Orlando Sentinel
April 1, 2007

10. Payment of Fees as Condition for Voting

PRO: "I don't think having the right to vote should be based upon one's financial status. It smacks too much of class and other forms of bias."

Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Ph.D.
Washington State Senator (D-36th), Seattle
"Bill Would Give Felons Voting Rights on Release,"
Spokesman Review
February 14, 2007

CON: "We believe a rational basis does exist for the Legislature to deny felons the right to vote until they have completed their entire court-ordered sentences, including payment of criminal penalties, victim's restitution, and legal fees, rather than separating out various sentencing aspects."

Rob McKenna, J.D.
Attorney General (R), State of Washington
Sam Reed
Secretary of State, Washington
"State to Appeal Ruling Granting Voting Rights
to Felons Who Owe Fines,"
Seattle Times
March 29, 2006