Restore Voting Rights to Citizens with Felony Convictions

Laws that revoke the voting rights of individuals convicted of felonies have been around since the founding of the republic. Especially in the Jim Crow era, these laws disproportionately deprived African Americans of their right to vote. Today, millions of U.S. citizens—and still a disproportionate number of black citizens—are denied the right to vote because they have committed a felony.

If we want to build civic engagement and commitment to democratic principles, we need to recognize the value of all voices in our communities. Allowing all voting-age citizens living in a community to register and vote would be a major expansion of the franchise and a major step toward a more representative democracy.  

Congress and state legislatures should pass legislation that automatically and immediately restores state and federal voting rights to individuals upon their release from prison. These rights should be granted without conditions and should extend to any voting-age citizen convicted of a felony who is already living in the community (this would include those on parole or probation and those who were never required to serve time for their conviction).

Source: Brennan Center

In November 2018, the citizens of Florida restored voting rights to 1.4 million citizens with felony convictions through a ballot initiative. The initiative, known as Amendment 4, passed with nearly 65 percent of voters’ support. Amendment 4 is now being undermined through attempts to impose fines and other penalties on individuals before their right to vote can be restored.

Campaign Legal Center and RepresentWomen and Faithful Democracy are committed to working to implement this recommendation in order to help reinvent American democracy for the 21st century.