Preview

Should Ex-Felons Be Allowed To Vote?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
693 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Should Ex-Felons Be Allowed To Vote?
What if your right to vote was taken away? The government should allow ex-felons to vote. Today I will remind you of both sides surrounding voting, persuade you to support democrats and provide ways to get your voice heard.
This rule has been a controversy with many polls because over 5.85 million citizens are not allowed to vote due to disenfranchisement. This could determine our current leaders in charge by their votes that they do not get the chance to use. With this over 38% of the felons being African Americans, more than 2.2 million people are not allowed to vote due to their felon restrictions.
There are many reasons I believe ex-felons should be allowed to vote after they have faced their sentences. The vote in the presidential election is never accurate because many …show more content…
With many of the prisoners being democrats, this takes away from all their votes with a mass of the people not being allowed to vote. A good example of this could be the election in 2004 with George Bush, a republican, who was able to win the presidential election with influence from his brother in Florida to get him an extra electoral vote which counts more than the popular vote. Felon’s rights are already limited with many restrictions being put on them due to the government not having any trust over them and still see them as criminals. A list of restrictions including traveling abroad, owning a gun, many employment opportunities as well as other privileges citizens are able to use such as applying for grants, living in public housing, SSI and food stamps. If a felon is a parent as well, their parental rights are diminished because in any case the judge will award the other parent custody due to the conviction. With all this, this conviction will be on the person’s personal
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Michelle Alexander Jim Crow Analysis
    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Michelle Alexander Jim Crow Analysis

    In the new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, She talked about how the prison system makes it harder for African Americans. When prisoners leaves from prison there mentally still imprisoned there not used to the real world like most of us there more used to be inside of a cell they have to understand the rules and regulations and now they're being put as a felon. My first claim talks about they lost their right to vote and the reason for that is they show they don't respect the society it's a continued punishments there not given chances to earn their freedom back. Criminals violated laws of government and they have to take back in government when people chose to commit serious crimes they showing that there willing to damage the laws abiding people's…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Convicted Felons Research Paper
    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Convicted Felons Research Paper

    Roughly, about thirty percent of the US adult population is a convicted felon. Forty-eight of fifty states restrict these criminals' voting rights; that is the equivalent to millions of unheard voices. Even though many say that offenders should not be trusted with political matters, they are still human beings and they deserve their unalienable rights. They are human beings, regardless of the crime they have committed and like everyone else, they deserve to improve their lifestyle. For this reason, and many others, the US government should remove voting restrictions on convicted felons.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Should Felons Vote Analysis
    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Should Felons Vote Analysis

    Revoking convicted felon’s rights to vote has been an issue at hand in politics since the beginning of our nation. Edward Fesser published an article in the magazine titled City Journal called “Should Felons Vote?” In the article he is arguing against the views of Democrats and their motives for restoring convicted felons voting rights. He says their motives are to expand their chances in winning an election. Edward Fesser’s argument is weak because he fails to provide substantial evidence supporting his arguments on the disenfranchisement of felons.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should a Covicted Felon Have the Right to Vote
    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Should a Covicted Felon Have the Right to Vote

    I think a convicted felon should have the right to vote after they spend their sentence in prison and finish with parole. I will give you three reasons why they should. My first reason is they are citizens like us and they might not be guilty. My second reason is ever though there not out and free they do watch TV to see what’s going on. My final reason is if it was polices officer or a famous person they still are aloud. The next paragraph I will tell you about my first reason.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should Felons Be Allowed To Vote
    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page

    Should Felons Be Allowed To Vote

    According to the law, everyone is entitled to vote, to be specific, the age of 18 and above. I believe felons should be allowed to vote because people make mistakes. There are many people who want to live right, they can’t because they are being kept down, the situation they’re in leads them to be in a bad place. For example, if a person commits theft, it’s most likely they’re poor. He/she steals because they are desperate for what they don’t have; basic needs or necessities of life. I believe felons should be allowed to vote, even if they are criminals, they deserve a second chance, it is not fair to take away their right to vote. This is as if like taking away their freedom of speech. Everyone has a voice and it should stand out, even if…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Should Felons Be Allowed To Vote Essay
    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Should Felons Be Allowed To Vote Essay

    As a college student who doesn’t have a felony on their record and is not familiar with the climax of the justices’ system and voting laws I have taken it upon myself to do the research on the topic. In doing so I have come to the conclusion that felons should be allowed to vote and their vote could and would have made major differences in past elections. Estimated about 5.85 million people in the United States could not vote due to a felony conviction an increase from the 2004 total of 5.26 million and the highest number since at least 1960.12 most extreme states restrict voting rights even after a person has served his or her prison sentence and is no longer on probation or parole; such individuals in those states make up approximately 45 percent of the entire disenfranchised population. How can we claim, a great nation, that we’re all together, when we single out…

    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Should Felons Be Able To Vote?
    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Should Felons Be Able To Vote?

    The number of Americans who cannot vote because they have been convicted of a felon continues to rise. According to the National institute of justice about a quarter of felons are in prison, but the rest have completed their sentences and are on probation or parole. The only reason not to let them vote is to stigmatize them or to continue punishing them. Voting would help ex felons re-engage with society by showing them that they have equal importance in the society, for example ,it shows that their opinion is just as important as anyone else's. Also, this may not always be a good thing. Not all ex felons can be trusted and not all ex felons judgment and credibility can be trusted.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Benefits Of Ex-Felons
    • 225 Words
    • 1 Page

    Benefits Of Ex-Felons

    You are correct, when you said that’ it is up to the states to restore the rights of a felon” I did my research and found out that depending on the state, the crime that was committed and the time that has passed since finishing the sentence, some ex-felons can have their voting rights restored. I even found out that there are two states that allow felons to vote while in prison (Vermont and Maine), I have to admit that I was not expecting that one.…

    • 225 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Do Felons Have Voting Rights
    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why Do Felons Have Voting Rights

    Many felons deserve second chances, some of the crimes these people did weren’t extreme compared to other crimes. If a felon gets their voting rights back after the served time and they continue to commit crimes, I think they should lose their voting rights then. If they keep doing these crimes then they must not understand that the should stop or they can’t stop. Taking their voting rights away can be a…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ex-Felons Should Be Abolished Essay
    • 2365 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Ex-Felons Should Be Abolished Essay

    The citizens’ opinions ranged between supporting and not supporting. The citizens’ opinions fell in-between those two. 9.9 percent thought felons should never lose their right to vote. 31.6 percent thought they should only lose the right while they are incarcerated. 5.0 percent thought felons should lose their right while on parole or probation. 35.2 percent thought the right to vote should be lost while incarcerated and on parole or probation. Overall, 81.7 percent of the respondents did not support the permanent elimination of voting rights. The respondents’ supported having felons voting rights restored at some point (Pinaire et al., 2002). When the authors asked the respondents why they wanted permanent or temporary voting restrictions, 32.7 percent said “felons have proven that they should not be treated as citizens” (Pinaire et al., 2002, 1541). The authors were surprised that 31.1 percent had chosen none of the above/other reason. Pinaire et al. (2002) believe there must have been some other reason the respondents wanted temporary or permanent voting restrictions. A little more than half strongly or somewhat agreed to have felons rights restored after completing their sentence. About 44.2 percent somewhat or strongly disagreed to the restoration of…

    • 2365 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Persuasive Essay Felons
    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Persuasive Essay Felons

    One reason felons should be able to vote when they get out of prison is because of racial discrimination. As many people know black people are wrongly accused of crimes…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Convicted Felons Should Not Be Allowed to Vote
    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Convicted Felons Should Not Be Allowed to Vote

    This essay discusses my reflection on whether or not felons should have the right to vote. A felon is defined as a person who has been convicted of a felony, which is a crime punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison. A felony is a serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment or death. Convicted felons should not be allowed to vote. Many Americans were not allowed to vote these past elections. It wasn’t because they didn’t pay taxes or were mentally incompetent or underage. The reason why they can’t vote is because they are convicted felons. Once someone has committed a serious crime or felony, they have shown that they are not trustworthy enough to vote. Because they disobeyed the law, they should not have the obligation to vote. If one is sent to prison, they have agreed that most of their rights have been taken. Prison is meant to be a punishment and one of their punishments is their loss of freedom and democratic rights for their time of their sentence. Convicted felons have also demonstrated poor judgment and should not be trusted with a vote. The main point of a prison sentence to show the offender and society that criminal behavior results in loss of freedom and most of the rights that freedom has to offer. Therefore felons should not be allowed to vote. Although some people believe that felons should be allowed to vote at any circumstance but I believe that if they are felons they have already lost that opportunity because they have decided to make the choice to participate in criminal activities. If the felon is not willing to follow the law himself, then they should not demand the right to vote. In California, felons serving time in prison or county jail are denied their right to vote. According to The Sentencing Project, 5.3 million Americans were unable to vote in 2008 due to a felony conviction. Unfortunately, statistics show that this number is expected to rise to 6 million.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should African Americans Be Allowed To Vote
    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Should African Americans Be Allowed To Vote

    Never did I think this day would come. Congress has passed a law that any American cannot be denied the right to vote, based on race, color or being a former slave. I remember only white men like myself were the only people who wore able to vote. Now seeing a African American man voting is very strange because I am not accustomed to that. My friend Franklin told that about 700,000 African American men registered to vote and many have them are declaring themselves are republicans. Despite this new law we aren’t gonna give up without a fight. Many southern states are using poll taxes so African American men would have to pay in order to vote. I think this was very clever because we all know those negroes don’t make enough money to afford to pay…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Effects Of Disenfranchisement
    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Effects Of Disenfranchisement

    As we head towards the twenty-first century, we find that America has left segregation as a part of the past and has focused to promote equal opportunity. Though times have changed, 4.7 million convicted felons in twenty states are being denied the right to vote (Elizabeth S. Clemens, Elizabeth Hull, Hillary Potter). Should ex-criminals who served their punishment be denied the right to vote?…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Social Consequences Of Mass Incarceration
    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Social Consequences Of Mass Incarceration

    This consequence has a very hurting relationship because; it takes away the voice of the minority in the democracy of our country. This happens because the minority of this country makes up the larger amount of prisoners in our country. The statics the book speaks on are that six times the amounts of black man are incarcerated then that of white males in America. This means that there are more men incapable of voting in the black community then that of the white community.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics