The Minnesota Legislature is considering a bill that would allow ex-prisoners the right to vote. Legislators should approve that bill.
There is absolutely no good reason for barring the right to vote from people who have committed a crime and then paid their debt to society. There are enough stigmas attached to ex-felons – stigmas that make re-entry into society very difficult and that contribute to the recidivisim rate.
Allowing former prisoners the right to vote would at least take one of the stigmas away – the stigma that since they committed a crime they don’t count, that they have no part in our society, that they will be considered unworthy outsiders until the day they die. That’s not only dumb reasoning; it is spiteful and just plain mean. The rationale for disenfranchising offenders from voting stems from the idea if a person commits a serious crime, he or she should lose all rights, including the right to vote. But such a draconian notion doesn’t make any sense at all if losing rights means in perpetuity – that is, until the day one dies.
Another silly rationale behind the law is letting ex-felons vote would be a form of mollycoddling them, rewarding their bad behavior. That’s just plain baloney, especially since the behavior is past bad behavior.
When offenders are released from jails and prisons, they are expected to find work, support themselves and their families, pay taxes and remain law-abiding. They have paid their debts in time served, in fines and in restitutions to victims. If they are expected to start a good, productive, lawful life, the right to vote should absolutely be part of that “clean slate.” Denying former prisoners the right to vote is downright punitive for no good reason.
Some research suggests allowing ex-offenders the right to vote not only de-stigmatizes them but helps them feel more accepted so they can reintegrate more successfully back into lives of freedoms denied to them during their incarcerations. An estimated 50,000 Minnesotans now have no right to vote because of past offenses.
There are currently 13 states that allow former prisoners the right to vote: Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Utah.
Let’s ask our legislators to join those states by voting for the Voting Restoration Bill (HF 0342) that was submitted by Rep. Tony Cornish (R-Vernon Center) and that appears to have broad bipartisan support.
Denying ex-offenders the right to vote is as spiteful and vindictive as some of those old Puritanical laws in Old New England (like making an adulteress wear a scarlet “A”) that have long been stricken from the law books.
