It's Time to Give Felons Back Their Right to Vote

No single voting rights inequity seems a starker injustice than the plight of people with felony convictions. Those found guilty are not always violent, habitual lawbreakers. Most people with felony convictions -- three out of five -- don't merit or get jail time. These people, of course, aren't just murderers and muggers. Three out of every five felony convictions don't lead to jail time, and there's no clear line you have to cross to earn one.

So why do people convicted of a felony in Virginia still automatically lose their right to vote for life [Metro, June 17]? This law has resulted in an estimated 300,000 residents being disenfranchised, even though they are not in prison. Taking away the right to vote for life is analogous, some commentators have suggested, to the medieval practice of "civil death," where severe violations of society's social code led to complete loss of citizenship rights.

Contrary to popular belief, felony disenfranchisement laws are not part of the criminal justice system. Instead, they are state election laws, enacted by state legislatures and governors, or hardwired into constitutions. Losing the right to vote after a felony conviction in Virginia isn't part of anyone's criminal sentence -- it is a "collateral consequence" dictated by state law.

Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states in the United States that permanently take away the voting rights of those with felony records, barring personal intervention by the governor. The good news is that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has pledged to expedite the review process for eligible petitioners who submit a one-page application (for nonviolent felonies) by Friday in time to participate in November and thereafter.

Virginia's disenfranchisement laws were originally established to keep blacks from voting and were in line with statutes enacted by former slave states. The racially tainted history of felony disenfranchisement laws ought to make citizens of the commonwealth of all ideological persuasions reconsider the value of these laws in our democracy -- because felony disenfranchisement laws deny citizens their political voice. These repugnant laws not only strip citizens of legitimate self-empowerment but also make a mockery of those of us who have faith that our democratic system can engender a just society.

There is a movement afoot in Virginia to ameliorate the impact of felony disenfranchisement. Three out of four Virginia voters think it is important to protect voting rights for all people, including those who have committed a crime, and most Virginia voters favor restoring voting rights to those who have been convicted of a felony after they have completed all conditions of their punishment.

The Virginia Constitution vests the governor with plenary power to restore voting rights to all people convicted of felonies. And now the spotlight is on the bureaucrats and the politicians who are creating and are responsible for administering these systems that unfairly keep people from voting.

-- Edward Hailes Jr.

Washington

The writer is a senior attorney at Advancement Project.