In Alabama, an important question is being raised; is it unconstitutional to bar people with prior felony convictions from voting?
A lawsuit that was filed on September 26 believes the answer to that question is yes.
Taking away the right to vote from people who have served time makes one question the purpose of a criminal justice system. One assumes that the purpose of incarceration, beyond crime deterrence is to pay back one’s debt to society, and in a perfect world perhaps even rehabilitate citizens.
Once time is served, why should citizens permanently lose their right to have a say in government?
In Alabama, voting after a felony conviction is possible, but it remains unclear as to whom the possibility applies. The legislation states that the possibility is there for those who have not committed a crime of “moral turpitude.” The term moral turpitude is undefined in the law, but it is a concept:
“…Referring to conduct that opposes community standards of morals.”
Reinstating the right to vote requires paying fines, filing a petition, and waiting to find out if that right will be granted.
The lawsuit states that taking away the right to vote disenfranchises Blacks. That the current provisions stem from Alabama’s 1901 provisions which is racially discriminatory.
The lawsuit states of the current law:
“It is inextricably tied to Alabama’s long history of denying blacks citizens voting rights and equal access to the polls, using the criminal justice system to achieve those goals”
“The result is the disenfranchisement of approximately 7% of Alabama’s total voting-age population and 15% of Alabama’s black voting-age population.”
Fifteen percent of the Alabama’s black voting age population amounts to over 130,000 votes. Across the nation, more than 5.8 million people will be barred from voting in November.
As Mother Jones reported,
“About 2.2 million African Americans, or 7.7 percent of black adults in the country, have been disenfranchised because of a felony charge … that compares with 1.8 percent of the rest of the population.”
Gerry Herbert, executive director of the campaign legal center said,
“Citizens with past felony convictions work and pay taxes, and should have a say in deciding their community’s and the nation’s laws that directly impact their lives,”
Our country was founded on the principle, “no taxation without representation.”
Herbert also stated,
“Denying these citizens with past felony convictions the opportunity to fully integrate as members of society sends the message that they will permanently be treated as second-class citizens.”
The United States has a long history of silencing the Black vote. The 15th Amendment was supposed to guarantee the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race.
Since the Amendment passed in 1870, many discriminatory practices have been used to disenfranchise minority voters from poll taxes and literacy tests (including some where people were asked to recite the entire constitution) to threats and even violence.
We know that our criminal justice system disproportionately targets Blacks. Blacks are incarcerated at six times the rates of their white counterparts.
While whites report using drugs at five times the rate that Blacks do, they are are 10 times more likely to be sent to prison for drugs than whites are.
We can not allow a racially biased criminal justice system to determine who has the right to vote.
