The New York Times wrote in favor of a bill to restore the voting rights of four million Americans that are living and working in our communities, but disenfranchised by felony convictions.
“There is no good reason to deny former prisoners the vote. Once they are back in the community — paying taxes, working, raising families — they have the same concerns as other voters, and they should have the same say in who represents them.
Disenfranchisement laws also work against efforts to help released prisoners turn their lives around. Denying the vote to ex-offenders, who have paid their debt, continues to brand them as criminals, setting them apart from the society they should be rejoining.”
Read the editorial here.
Read more on the Democracy Restoration Act here and here.