Voter disenfranchisement is nothing new in this country, although voter ID laws seem to be a popular new angle, pursued with disturbing enthusiasm by Republicans. Yesterday, I saw the right to vote characterized as 'sacred,' a concept I don't normally get on board with as an atheist. Maybe in this case, it's worth making an exception.
With that in mind, behold a long-running profanity, so to speak -- disenfranchisement of felons, in some states permanent -- and how the racially biased justice system applies this particular form of voter suppression.
I believe it was in the dissenting opinions on the Pennsylvania voter ID case in their state Supreme Court that the right to vote was called sacred. Later in the day, I watched one of Chris Hayes' commercials on MSNBC where he referred to voter suppression efforts as profane.
If they're on to something here, consider what Colorlines reported yesterday:
One out of every 13 African Americans are already disenfranchised, and it’s not because of voter ID laws, voter purges, or cut-offs to early voting, but because they’re caught up in the criminal justice system. According to a new study released this summer by The Sentencing Project, in 2010, 5.85 million otherwise eligible voters were disenfranchised because they’re current or former felons. Of these, a full 75 percent were already out on parole, probation, or had already completed their complete sentence. Nationwide, nearly eight percent of African Americans have lost their right to vote, compared to nearly two percent for non-African Americans—illustrating the lasting effects of a racially biased criminal justice system.
The Sentencing Project included an
interactive map, on which you can view the relevant statistics nationwide or for any state. Arizona jumped out at me, 11.2%; but bad as that is, it's not the worst, not by far. Mississippi, 13.9%. Virginia, 20.4%. Florida, 23.3%.
Profanity indeed!
I learned that disenfranchisement of felons was ironically permitted by use of the Fourteenth Amendment by the U.S. Supreme Court, although a later decision allowed for one method to counter it that seems awfully hard to prove.
A felony disenfranchisement law, which on its face is indiscriminate in nature, cannot be invalidated by the Supreme Court unless its enforcement is proven to racially discriminate and to have been enacted with racially discriminatory animus.
The first part of this seems trivial to demonstrate; it's the second that must require a Vulcan mind-meld. Meanwhile, felony disenfranchisement laws vary from state to state. Wikipedia reports that in Kentucky and Virginia, such disenfranchisement default to permanence. Interestingly, though, some of the usual suspects come up, pursuing this angle on voter suppression as well.
In 2007, Florida moved to restore voting rights to convicted felons. In March 2011, however, Republican Governor Rick Scott reversed the 2007 reforms, making Florida the state with the most punitive law in terms of disenfranchising citizens with past felony convictions.[4]
Colorlines reports that
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is working to change the law in that state, to give the voters a chance to decide on the matter. Although I am somewhat skeptical of giving the people the choice to discriminate against an oppressed minority, credit where it's due for trying to make
some change in one of the worst states when it comes to disenfranchising voters, especially black voters.
The following was written by Meta Mendel-Reyes from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and included in the Colorlines article:
Kentucky effectively targets African Americans, other people of color, and low-income folks, who will be unable to cast a ballot due to a past conviction they have already served their time for. With an upcoming election that threatens to disenfranchise people through voter ID laws, let’s not forget the millions of former felons who have already been kept from voting.
Given the brazen and, yes, profane predilection of conservative Republicans these days to win through suppressing the vote of their opposition...
...I think it's worth following the example of more liberal state governments that restore the rights of former felons, once they have paid their debts to society. If this is the sort of liberty that really is sacred, and unalienable, let's practice what we preach.
P.S. Thanks, Denise, for pointing out that interactive map to me. It is a handy little tool, even if the information it offers is distressing to read.