This week, the Maryland Legislature simplified laws to restore ex-felons’ voting rights. Too bad Virginia has not done the same. Our great commonwealth would rather make changes depending on individual appeals instead of granting former inmates suffrage, while maintaining certain criteria like excluding those charged with election fraud. Some law-abiding bigots would assert they do not want murderers, rapists and drug dealers having any say in how our democracy works.
But if a person is considered safe to be released from prison, what makes that person still unsafe to exercise their rights as an American? This is not a great example of democracy. This is more like an excluding practice disguised as a necessity.
According to the secretary of the commonwealth, a former felon who wants to exercise their voting rights must wait three years after release for a non-violent offense. For a violent offense, drug distribution or drug manufacturing, that person must wait five years before applying. Once he fills in his application, it takes another six months to arrive on the governor’s desk. Then the governor is the only individual with the power to grant a restoration of voting rights. If the application is denied, the applicant must wait another two years to re-apply.
This process still leaves democracy reserved for only squeaky-clean Americans and mounds of paperwork for the unfortunate others.
The Sentencing Project, a think-tank dedicated to the rights of the incarcerated, has conducted studies on felon’s disenfranchisement. Former Gov. Mark Warner granted 3,414 appeals while former Gov. Jim Gilmore granted 238. Gov. Tim Kaine’s statistics have not been published yet.
Thankfully, Virginia is not the worst state when it comes to restoring felons’ voting rights. Florida may be the winner in that category. Florida’s current laws exclude close to 950,000 ex-felons from the ballot box.
What’s wrong with people wanting to better their lives by getting involved with positive activity like voting? This is not a child molester applying for work at a day care center.
A person is put in prison because he is said to be a threat to our most prized possessions, our families and our money. He then serves his time, or as some would say, “pays his debt to society.” Then, why should his rights be removed permanently? If that convict is OK to leave the confines of that particular penitentiary, shouldn’t he be able to exercise his rights as an American when he returns to society? If not, one should make some serious changes to this nation’s prison-industrial complex.