Democracy Restoration Act
Senator Ben Cardin (D—Maryland) has introduced the Democracy Restoration Act. This law, if passed, will restore full voting rights to all ex-convicts after they’ve served their sentences.
The bill is being co-sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse. Sen. Ben Cardin said:
“If we truly want to break the cycle of recidivism, we need to reintegrate former prisoners back into society. When prisoners are released, they are expected to obey the law, get a job, and pay taxes as they are rehabilitated and reintegrated into their community. With these responsibilities and obligations of citizenship should also come the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote.”
Makes sense to me.
Labels: Ben Cardin, Democracy Restoration Act, ex-convicts voting rights, recidivism, Richard Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse
posted by Tom Harper @ 4:34 PM
13 Comments:
Oh I fully expect the Republicans to fight this one. They never liked the voting rights act, fought tooth and nail on the Motor Voter Bill (remember that one we now take for granted?), are the main reason why election days aren’t on Saturdays like most of the world, and it’s their Governors who are trying pass ID bills. THEY DON’T WANT PEOPLE OF COLOR TO VOTE!
People who do their time are supposed to be forgiven and given another chance, not only given piecemeal chances. A few ex-cons like Rush Limbaugh and Oliver North who are are millionaires and never have to worry about Voting - these are for the rest who have honestly done their time.
Part of me feels this would not be any sort of debate point the democrats would want to stand behind, as I feel it would be hard for get common support for ......Criminals!
Erik
The same argument can be used to allow a felon to own a firearm.
The same argument can be used to allow a felon to own a firearm.
And babysit your kids
And babysit your kids
Stupid broad, many people hire teenagers to babysit their kids. Last I checked, teenagers can't vote.
I'm actually more worried about people voting who are stupid, like you. People who couldn't form a coherent response if their very lives depended on it. Perhaps dumb broads like you should be shackled to the kitchen table, and kept far from the voting booth.
Denying ex-cons the vote for the rest of their lives is just wrong, so I hope the bill passes. I'm sure it will be filibustered in the Senate, though.
Even so, it's important to make the effort and advance the idea. Sometimes that has to be done repeatedly over a period of years or even decades before the right thing is done. But the country's history is that eventually the right thing is done.
Jerry Critter, a case could be made that someone convicted of, say, counterfeiting, shouldn't be banned from owning a gun for life.
You could argue that someone convicted of armed robbery or felonious assault should be able own a gun after paying his/her debt to society, just as you could argue almost anything. The likelihood of getting that argument accepted and the law changed is a whole 'nother matter.
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JR unlike the educated types who voted for Obama right?
Gotta love a bunch of know nothings who are mesmerized with Hope and Change.
As opposed to a bunch of know nothings who are mesmerized by Lies and Flip-Flops?
you mean like these kids
ain't democracy great?
Not sure what that last comment had to do with breaking the cycle of recidivism? Or with increasing access to voting?
Erik: No doubt, Republicans will dust off their "Soft on Crime!" soundbites for this one.
Jerry: I'm pretty much in-between about gun laws (I don't own a gun), and it seems like everybody and his brother already has a gun. I don't think being an ex-con should stop someone from buying a gun.
JR: I'd be in favor of some sort of intelligence test for screening voters. This new poll tax, I mean voter ID law, only disenfranchises minorities, the elderly and low income people, who just happen to be mostly Democrats. Meanwhile, single-digit IQ morons who can only parrot Rush and Glenn are allowed to vote.
SW: This might be one of those laws that gets defeated several times and then ultimately passes. You can count on the Prison-Industrial Complex pulling out every trick they know.
Snave: What, you were expecting Lisa's comments to be actually related to the post?
I see someone else has said this but it bears repeating, Lisa yer a moron. No no not that, pugs will fight this tooth and nail because this has been their little helper for too many years, being able to purge certain people from the voter rolls. You know, the ones that typically vote for Democrats. Hope it goes somewhere but won'thold my breath since they are fuckin around on everything else that is important, instead concentrating on taking it to PO by requiring a bust of Churchill be placed.
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