(no subject)

[serene]

The best moment from yesterday was when a young man said he couldn't vote because he's a felon. I said, "Did you finish your parole?"

"Yes."

"Then you're an EX-felon, and you can vote."

"Are you SURE?!?!?"

I showed him the FAQ, where it says clearly that once you've served your parole, you can vote, and he was SO excited. He registered, and now he can't wait to vote in the election. He had been feeling really disappointed that he couldn't vote at such an important time.

(In my opinion, people should be able to vote even if they're on parole or in prison, but that's not the way it is in California, where I live and vote.)

Comments

[ailbhe]

YES yes yes yes yes yes yes!

I seem to recall that in the US, the insane may vote but the incarcerated may not, and in the UK it's the other way around.

Finding out that having served one's sentence doesn't return one's vote was a shock, from over here.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

In California, if a qualified professional has said you're incompetent, you may not vote.

[ailbhe]

I wonder how that's checked? I have no idea how it's done here.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

We have competence hearings here for other things (child custody, incarceration for crimes, etc.), but I imagine that in practical terms, it means that people who are psychiatric inpatients are denied the right to register to vote, and no one challenges it.

[redbird]

That's state-specific. I know that in New York, as in California, people who have finished serving their time get to vote. (I think people still on parole don't get to vote here either.)

[ailbhe]

The state-specific exceptions were what drew my attention to it, yeah. It... well, it's a very convenient way to stop the criminal classes voting, is what.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's my big concern - just incarcerate enough of the people who disagree with you, and voila, stay in power for ever.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

U R teh awesome!

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

That's great! And he will surely spread the word.

[redbird]

Yay for that!

I agree that prisoners should be able to vote, and definitely people on parole should be.

It would do interesting things to local politics in some states if they were: rural areas push to get prisons as a source of jobs, and so they can point to a larger population for things like state legislative districts. If prisoners could vote, they could reasonably register to vote as residents of that district: after all, they're being counted as such by the census. And that not only might shift some legislative districts, it could do interesting things to local offices.

Part of why I like this is that it might stop the conservatives from putting prisons a day's travel away from most of the prisoners' families.

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember when losing the franchise while doing time for a felony was instituted. My memory wants to say it's been around for awhile. And according to Wikipedia, US law inherited it from Greco-Roman traditions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement)

I don't object to the franchise being denied while in prison, but it has to be restored after the convicted has "paid their debt to society" as the saying goes.

And, of course, equal application of the felony laws would be nice, too.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I think that every adult who is affected by the laws (and probably some people who are currently younger than legal adult status) should have a say in those laws. Therefore, I think those adults who are mentally competent should be allowed to vote, whether or not they're in prison.

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

And I think that people who have acted outside the scope of those laws who further have been found guilty of criminal activity by a jury of their peers should not be party to that process until their debt to society has been paid.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

And I think that "acting outside the scope" of what is usually just a few laws isn't remotely equivalent to rejecting the entire legal/socio-political system.

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

Here's a list of felony crimes (not the entire list): aggravated assault and/or battery, arson, burglary, illegal drug abuse/sales, embezzlement, grand theft, treason, espionage, racketeering, robbery, murder, rape, kidnapping and fraud.

Aside from "illegal drug abuse/sales" I think that commission of any of these is a pretty good demonstration that the person who committed them is rejecting the system of laws that voting works to change.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

but it's significant that the government has managed to get drug abuse listed as a felony.

[ailbhe]

"Treason" is pretty broad, too, when they want it to be.

[ailbhe]

Oh - and statutory rape is treated as rape very often; one hears of eg 19-year-olds and 17-year olds, etc.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I might agree with you if the "justice" system weren't so utterly corrupt.

[haleth.livejournal.com]

That rocks.

[vasilatos]

YAY! My best friend was totally psyched about the idea that he could register to vote though he'd thought he couldn't because he was a convicted person (he and I researched it and figured out he could vote). What a horrid misconception for folks who want to participate.

There's an ongoing campaign in congress to nationalize rules about who can vote.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's just lovely.

-J

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

that's great :)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Serene, you did good. I hope he goes home and tells everyone he knows about this, so others can get registered too.

[firecat]

If he wasn't told when his parole was finished that he was now eligible to vote again, that's a crime in itself.

I'm glad that you told him and he's registered now.