A lady from work today was talking about how badly her son would like to vote in this election. He's all about Obama. She said he can't though because he's a convicted felon. He's 18 and was arrested about 9 months ago for trafficking drugs on school grounds. He's on house arrest and probation for 2 years after. So my question is... will he NEVER be allowed to vote because of his conviction or is it just while he is on house arrest/probation. I'm not friends with this woman really so not like I'm asking for her or anything I'm just curious about this.
cpnpicard12008-10-30T23:31:01Z
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The legal ability of people with felony convictions to vote varies from state to state. Some states allow felons to vote from prison while other states permanently ban felons from voting even if they have been released from prison, parole, and probation, and paid all their fines.
The chart on the link below places each US state within one of five categories ranging from harshest (column B) to least restrictive (column F), for the 12 most restrictive states in column B additional details have been provided including relevant sections of official state laws and, whenever possible, official re-enfranchisement applications in PDF format.
No federal laws exist on felon voting per se. Felon voting has not been regulated federally although some argue that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be applied to felon disenfranchisement and that Congress has the authority to legislate felon voting in federal elections.
"Specifically, while only four states allow felons to vote while they are in prison, 18 allow felons to vote while they are on parole and 21 allow them to vote while on probation. Only 10 states permanently disenfranchise all felons and another handful do so to some ex-offenders or restore the ability to vote after a time limit. The Sentencing Project, a prisoner advocacy group, says that 13% of black males are disenfranchised under these laws. They're an advocacy group and their exact figure is subject to challenge, but let's not quibble over a few percentage points. Clearly, this is a big deal.
The simple answer to your question is that felons can't vote is because voting is a civil right and you forfeit certain rights, temporarily anyway, when convicted of a serious crime. But the full story, as always, is more complex. Pull up a chair and light a cigar.
The voting history of the United States is mostly one of extending voting rights from the few to the many, not the other way around. Over the course of our Constitution, rights have been extended to non-whites (Amendment XV in 1870), to women (XIX in 1920), to people unable or unwilling to pay a poll tax (XXIV, 1964) and to people over the age of 18 (XXVI, 1971). Additionally, state laws extended the right to non-property owners and others. Felons mostly just never got out from the historical and common-law prohibitions against their ability to vote.
Convicted felons have been denied various privileges granted to other citizens going all the way back to ancient Rome and Greece--this practice is laced throughout the common law that serves as the basis for U.S. law. Hey, at least we don't banish offenders any more."
He will not be able to vote, but he can still put his effort forward and do some work the for Obama campaign and encourage others to vote. So, even though he cannot vote himself, he can still make a difference through others. Since he is on house arrest , he might be able to use this opportunity to get some community service hours if the state you are in will allow it.
He can apply for clemency with the court and attempt to get it reversed to restore his rights as this is allowed, but I can tell you, if he is still on house arrest or probation he wont get that. After times served and back into the community showinghis responsibility then he has a better chance.