Meyers1

Jonathan Meyers
Stone
English 11
3/9/17
Citizen or Non-citizen: Felons Voting in Prison

“On November 7, 2000, Willie Steen, a navy vet who had served in the Persian Gulf during

Desert Storm, went to cast his ballot for president at the St. Francis Episcopal Church in Tampa,

Florida. He brought his 10-year-old son, Willie Jr., to the polls for the first time. They waited

a half hour to reach a poll worker. When Steen gave the poll worker his name, she

searched a list of registered voters in the precinct and told him, “You can’t vote. You’re a

convicted felon.”

“You must be mistaken,” Steen replied. “I’ve never been arrested in my life.” He worked

at a hospital, a Tampa orthopedics center, that wouldn’t employ anyone with a felony conviction.

The poll worker gave him a number to call at the board of elections, but no one picked up. The

75 people behind him in line grew very restless. Few would look him in the eye. He left in

embarrassment, being forced to explain to his son what had just happened. After fighting for his

country abroad, he wasn’t able to exercise his most fundamental right at home.

“I felt I was shafted,” Steen said. “I think there were a lot of things that weren’t done properly.

My name was dragged through the mud.” (Berman)

He later found out from journalist Greg Palast that he’d been confused with a convict

named Willie O’Steen, who had committed a felony between 1991 and 1993, when Steen

was in the Persian Gulf. Little did Steen know that the same thing was happening to voters

across the state of Florida—and disproportionately to voters like him, who were

African-American. In order to insure that every American has full rights, we must allow felons in
America the right to vote while in prison. There were about 5,000 people not able to vote who

actually did have the right to vote.

One of factors in which ex-convicts were unable to vote and it being unfair is that it affects

minorities, mostly black voters. One could never determine precisely how many voters,

who were incorrectly labeled felons, were turned away from the polls.

The U.S. Civil Rights Commission launched a major investigation into the 2000

election fiasco. Its acting general counsel, Edward Hailes, “… did the math the best that

he could. If 12,000 voters were wrongly purged from the rolls, and 44 percent of them were

African-American, and 90 percent of African-Americans voted for Gore, that meant 4,752

black Gore voters—almost nine times Bush’s margin of victory—could have been prevented

from voting”.

It does not take much to conclude that it cost Gore the election. “We did think it was

outcome-determinative,” Hailes said.

The 2000 election in Florida forever changed voter participation. In addition, Voter-ID laws

such as Georgia’s first-of-its-kind strict Voter-ID disenfranchised more U.S. citizens. Voter-ID

was approved by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act despite objections from

state lawyers and clear evidence that the law would disproportionately burden black voters.

According to the Justice Department’s report, Representative Sue Burmeister of Augusta, the

lead Republican sponsor of the bill, told department lawyers that “If there are fewer black voters

because of this bill, it will only be because there is less opportunity for fraud.”

“The result has been the most significant effort to restrict voting rights since the Jim Crow era.

From 2011 to 2015, 468 voting restrictions have been introduced in 49 states. Half the states in

the country have now passed new laws making it harder for U.S. citizens to vote. None of this

would have been possible if it were not for the 2000 election in Florida”(Berman).
 At one time, it seemed that prison was reserved for violent offenders who posed a threat

to the safety of the public and to those who were repeatedly convicted for “felonious” acts. More

recently, however, a fear of crime among the voting public combined with the economic gains

for for-profit prisons due to increased incarcerations has cre​ated a criminal justice system that

imprisons persons who have never been convicted of violent crimes and who have had no prior

convictions”(Berg).

The single justification for incarcer​ating so many Americans is that it reduces crime. This is,

perhaps, the most hotly debated topic today. “The Sentencing Project estimates that 5.8 million

Americans are barred from participating in elections due to having a felony conviction.” America

since 2002 has had the highest incarceration rate in the world. The world average is about 100

for every 100,000 citizens.

“The Fourteenth Amendment was meant to give equal rights to all by declaring that all

naturalized citizens have civil rights. Of course it excluded Native Americans, females, and

any​one under the age of twenty-one. The aforementioned phrase that nobody participating in

“rebellion or other crime” could vote was also added”(Berg).

The poorest Blacks and Latinos live in largely segregated communities in rural parts of the

United States due to the ramifications of racial segregation policies of the nineteenth and

twentieth centuries. Governmental services in these areas are sparse compared to those in

more affluent areas. Many of the people against the voter ID laws worry that these rules will

make it more difficult for voters of color and lower economic structures to vote. “The Sentencing

Project estimates that 5.8 million Americans are barred from participating in elections due to

having a felony conviction. And nearly 2.2 million black citizens – or nearly one in 13

African-American adults – are banned from voting because of these laws. This ratio rises to one
in five African American barred by felon disenfranchisement laws in Florida, Kentucky, and

Virginia” (Linderman).

Voting is an actual basic right in our Constitution. We can not discriminate based upon

race, religion, or gender. Opponents of convicts voting would say that the law does not

discriminate against any of the three mentioned in the previous sentence. However, the law is

clearly biased against race. “Over 21 million citizens do not possess appropriate

government-issued photo ID, and most of these people are racial minorities. Because of this,

opponents of these photo-ID laws claim that they are racially discriminatory (Linderman).”

Restricting voting inhibits more African-Americans and other people of color than whites. It may

be under the guise of being against felons but the end result an unfair amount of people of color

who are not able to vote.

The main counterargument is that the felons deserve to permanently lose the right to

vote because they committed a felony. Which begs the question are they considered full citizens

in the eyes of the law after they have paid their debt to society? The stigma of already being a

felon makes it difficult to get a job, places to live, and sometimes government assistance. It is

unnecessary and cruel to additionally take the right of voting from felons who have done their

time.

Another argument against giving ex-felons the right to vote is that ex-prisoners have

demonstrated dishonesty and irresponsibility by committing a crime. This calls into question can

people change their ways and if not, what is the point of releasing people from prison. That

would mean once a person has committed a crime than there would be a 100% probability that

they commit another crime. This is not the case. “Using a Bureau of Justice Statistic study

finding inmates released from state prisons have a five-year recidivism rate of 76.6%, the USSC
study calculated comparable federal prisoners released have a 44.7% re-arrest rate after five

years.” (Huffington Post)

A third excuse is ex-felons should demonstrate their willingness to abide by the law for a

certain period before they are allowed to vote again. If the judge has given them a specific

sentence and they serve it, then they have fulfilled the penalties given for the crime. By having

them wait for a period of time before they can vote again, you are assuming they are still guilty

and not full citizens.

“Forty-eight of the fifty states continue to enforce some form of felon disenfranchisement

laws... The rules are ancient in origin, and were used in the nineteenth century in the Jim Crow

south to shut out African-American voters. And yet they continue today.” (Linderman)

It is disturbing to see racism and ignorance still in today’s society, especially towards our

own citizens. Many scholars and advocates believe that we should make a completely new

system on how we judge felons and their right to vote. Human rights specialists have been

looking at other countries in how they treat prisoners and voting rights. One of the preferred

models is Germany’s system. “In contrast to the US model, which leaves much discretion to the

states, the German model of disenfranchisement sets national standards that limit

disenfranchisement to specifically enumerated offenses. In the German model, loss of voting

rights are impermanent and often short-lived. Scholars feel that the German approach in the

U.S. would minimize the loss of voting rights in minority populations.” (Demleitner (1999))

The German solution takes a more moderate approach instead of an all-or-nothing way.

What is most liked about the German model is Germany bans felons only in rare cases if

ordered by the court. Murder falls under this condition, but it has to be court ordered or

someone must file a suit against the murderer having the right to vote. Instead of a rash
approach in immediately taking the person’s right away, it allows the accused to defend

themselves in court. It is a more sensible and thoughtful ​approach. 

Race matters is all parts of the criminal process. There are big differences in sentencing

between minorities and whites. “Sentences imposed on Black males in the federal system are

nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes. Black

and Latino offenders sentenced in state and federal courts face significantly greater odds of

incarceration than similarly situated white offenders and receive longer sentences than their

white counterparts in some jurisdictions. Black male federal defendants receive longer

sentences than whites arrested for the same offenses and with comparable criminal

histories...These racial disparities result from disparate treatment of Blacks at every stage of the

criminal justice system, including stops and searches, arrests, prosecutions and plea

negotiations, trials, and sentencing. Race matters at all phases and aspects of the criminal

process, including the quality of representation, the charging phase, and the availability of plea

agreements...” (American Civil Liberties Union)

Crime and punishment in the United States is not a fair system. It is very uneven and

affects minorities more than whites. In turn this unfair system affects the outcome of elections.

The harsh voting ban is specifically designed to affect the voting outcome. It is undemocratic.

Works Cited

Paulose, Rachel Kunjummen. "Convicted Felons Face Ongoing Consequences."

Insights on Law & Society, vol. 16, no. 1, Fall2015, p. 21. EBSCOhost,
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 "Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights to Ex-Felons." All Things Considered, 2016.
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Abdul-Alim, Jamaal. "Restoring Voting Rights to Felons a Step toward Ending Black Voter
Suppression." Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 17, 22 Sept. 2016, p. 6.
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Reilly, Katie. "Court Strikes Down Virginia Order Restoring Voting Rights to Ex-Felons."
Time.Com, 25 July 2016, p. 1. EBSCOhost,
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Christopher Zoukis -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-zoukis/report-documents-us-recid_b_9542312.html

Turner, Jennifer, and Jamil Dakwar. "Racial Disparities in Sentencing." American Civil Liberties
Union. N.p., Sept. & oct. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.