disenfranchisement

Originally published on March 28, 2016.

Strict voter identification laws are proliferating all around the country. In 2006, only one U.S. state required identification to vote on Election Day. By now, 11 states have this requirement, and 34 states with more than half the nation’s population have some version of voter identification rules. With many states considering stricter laws and the courts actively evaluating the merits of voter identification requirements in a series of landmark cases, the actual consequences of these laws need to be pinned down. Do they distort election outcomes? more...

On March 14, 2012, Pennsylvania’s Republican Governor Tom Corbett signed into law his state’s version of strict voter ID rules that require voters to present a dated, government-issued form of photo identification before they enter the voting booth. Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians who believe they have the right to vote—many of whom have voted regularly—found themselves checking to see if they have correct documentation. If not, they would need to make time to get to government offices, often inconveniently located and open at limited hours.

Every American citizen has the right to vote—or so most of us assume, thinking the issue was finally settled by the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s. But a fresh struggle has erupted, as states impose new rules in the name of fighting “voter fraud” and civil rights advocates point to “voter suppression” threatening hard-won democratic rights. What are the new rules at issue—and are critics correct to suggest that they have a discriminatory impact? more...

The United States is one of the world’s strictest nations when it comes to denying the right to vote to citizens convicted of serious crimes. A remarkable 5.6 million Americans are forbidden to vote because of what scholars call “felon disenfranchisement,” referring to state laws that restrict voting rights for those convicted of serious crimes.

Most felon disenfranchisement laws were put on the books during and after the Civil War. Since the 1960s, some U.S. states have maintained old rules or tightened them, while others have granted more rights. Today, people actually sitting in prison lose the right to vote in 48 of the 50 states (all but Maine and Vermont). But current prisoners only represent about one-fourth of the 5.6 million disenfranchised. The rest are either probationers under supervision in their communities, or people on parole after fully serving their prison sentences.

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