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Voting Rights

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COMPARATIVE DISENFRANCHISEMENT

The latest Economist's Lexington section, which is where they discuss US topics, contends that "America is also one of the few countries to ban felons and, in some states, ex-felons from voting." 11 states currently deny ex-convicts the right to vote. The states are:

Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming.

These disenfranchisement laws impact male African Americans the most, of whom 14 percent have past criminal convictions: It's well documented that our criminal justice system is not race blind. It is pretty remarkable that we still have states in our union that disenfranchise ex-felons--essentially individuals who have served their time--and prohibit their participation at the voting booth.

So after reading the Economist I was curious to see what other countries are on this list. I did some research and came across this study that examined 45 "democratic" countries' voting restrictions for felons. The following 6 countries prohibited (with certain caveats noted) ex-felons from voting:

  • Armenia
  • Belgium
  • Chile
  • Finland
  • Germany
  • United States

Read more here.

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