Conyers: Allow 'People Who are Incarcerated' to Vote

WASHINGTON – Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that all felons should have the right to vote.

“I’m for allowing people who are incarcerated to have the right to vote. Why not? They’re citizens. No matter what they’ve done, and I’m not defending any of their conduct, but all of it wasn’t bad – but all I’m saying is expanding the vote and eliminating structural barriers is critical,” Conyers said at this month’s annual Legislative & Policy Conference organized by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) on Capitol Hill.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that we’re in a battle for the soul of this nation. What we do is going to affect, not only us, but a lot of people around the world,” he added. “And every day in the courts and in Congress, issues are raised to determine what it means to be an American and what your rights are. Well, we want all of our rights, not some of them.”

Conyers, who made the comments before news broke of sexual harassment complaints and a settlement involving the lawmaker, said Congress should take action to eliminate “strict” voter identification laws at the state level and enact other reforms.

“Make Election Day a national holiday. We shouldn’t have to do this in between work or hope we can get off work or not get paid. We want a paid holiday for those who are working,” Conyers said. “We want to extend voting hours and increase early voting days.”

Conyers urged progressives to remain committed to “expanding the right to vote.”

“In the area of voting rights protections, the Justice Department has literally changed sides since the new administration has come in. They are throwing out some of the modest progress that was beginning to be made. And so we’ve got a lot to do. Voter suppression is now a policy objective of this administration,” he said.

“The myth that voter fraud is rampant and our elections infiltrated by undocumented immigrants continues to be used as a pretext for state legislatures across the country to make it harder for minorities to vote,” the congressman added. “The real objective is to achieve a cynical partisan political outcome. Researchers have found that the laws have a dramatic and discouraging effect on minority turnout.”

Last year, Conyers introduced the Voter Restoration Act that would “amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, by prohibiting states from disqualifying individuals convicted of criminal offenses from voting in federal and local elections, and from registering to vote, with the exception of those convicted of murder, manslaughter, or sex crimes.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) argued that Republicans are using the right to vote as a “tool of oppression.”

“Make no mistake, the right to vote is under attack. A right-wing Supreme Court guts voting rights. State legislators ram through voting suppression laws and a so-called election integrity commission wants the states to turn over voters’ birth dates and Social Security numbers – think about that. We will defend the right to vote,” Warren said at the conference.

“We will not add one penny of support and not one ounce of legitimacy to President Trump’s so-called election commission. We will not,” she added. “We will pass a new Voting Rights Advancement Act and we will demand legislation to protect every citizen’s right to vote.”

Do you think you can send me a nasty email, telling me to go to hell and then just walk away when you are the one who is in the wrong?

That’s not going to happen. You posted something that you should not have. You violated the terms of this website, and acted against common decency as well.

For someone who is a veteran and advanced in years, you are showing hubris and a deficit in moral courage. This is inconsistent with your service to the country, the wisdom that should go with your years, and the conservatism you profess to espouse.

You are nearing the end of your life, and you tell me to go to hell for reproving your error. You need to consider your own eternal destiny rather than trying to dictate mine.

I’ve read many of your posts, and you usually have good things to say. I usually find myself agreeing with you. But this does not make it right when you say blacks should not be allowed to vote. You said that. Your post got deleted, rightly. But instead of manning up and apologizing, you defend, blame, excuse, and attack.

I politely reproved your error earlier because of your age and service to this country. You should have thanked me for the correction. You should have admitted you were in the wrong. You should have apologized to those who you insulted with your remarks. Instead you’ve chosen to double down.

You offended some of the black, Christian conservatives on this forum who have been here longer than you. You emailed to tell me to go to hell. They emailed me to express appreciation for standing up for black conservatives on this forum. This is not a place where they should feel rejected and isolated. It is a place where they should feel welcome.

And you and anyone who holds such views as you are refusing to denounce need to be aware that advocating such egregious views is not merely hurting the feelings of fellow conservatives, it damages the image and reputation of this website, all FReepers, and all conservatives. That’s why it can not remain unchallenged.

There wasn’t anything in my post that was in any way against “common decency.” The fact that you happen to see things differently doesn’t give you any reason to attack me and what I wrote.
There are people who don’t deserve the “right” they have to vote. I didn’t say they couldn’t vote, I said their votes were destroying this country. That’s the truth, they are. The large cities of this country are a teeming disaster, and you have to ask yourself why? And the answer is poor leadership. And in a large majority of cases, that “leadership” is Black Democrat. That isn’t my opinion, it is an easily demonstrated fact. Taking it a step further, what is the biggest threat to our country from illegal immigration? It’s that sooner or later, the longer they are allowed to stay, they ( or more likely their offspring) will be able to vote. I grew up in Northern California in the 1960’s. I consider myself extremely lucky to have had that opportunity. At that time this state was #1 in any and all categories upon which you wished to measure. So what has happened, migration here from the Southern States during WWII to work in defense plants and illegal immigration. Those are also facts. So you can get all wee wee’d up about “civil rights” for minorities, but the cold hard fact is that the ARE a major political, economic, and social problem that needs to be addressed. Now, if this offends you, go to the moderators and see if they will remove this commentary too. Frankly I don’t care, because what I’ve written is the truth!

“There wasn’t anything in my post that was in any way against ‘common decency...’ There are people who don’t deserve the ‘right’ they have to vote. I didn’t say they couldn’t vote, I said their votes were destroying this country.”

That is simply untrue.

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/common+decency:
Common, everyday courtesy, respect, and politeness that is expected and assumed by social convention.

Publicly calling for blacks, on the basis of their racial identity, to not be allowed to vote is not merely impolite. It is an attack on the dignity and humanity of other human beings made in the image of God.

Perhaps your memory is faulty. Perhaps you could ask the admin what words you said exactly that caused your post to be deleted. Perhaps what you said is different than what you remember saying, or what you intended to say. But what you said was that blacks should not be able to vote.

“There are people who don’t deserve the ‘right’ they have to vote.”

This thread is about felons losing the right to vote. That is a good criterion for losing a right, or, in this case, a privilege. But should anyone lose their right to vote because they share the same ethnicity as other felons? Of course not. Personal responsibility is a pillar of conservative principles. We do not punish people for what someone else has done.

The case could be made that certain types of government assistance should temporarily disqualify someone from voting in order to prevent people from voting money from the Treasury into their own pockets. Such an idea might be interesting to explore, but it is never going to happen apart from Civil War 2. So we can save such fanciful ideas for after that war is over. Meanwhile, back in the real world, even if there was a requirement to be self-supporting in order to have the privilege of voting, it would be morally wrong to bring race as a criterion into it.

“Those are also facts. So you can get all wee wee’d up about ‘civil rights’ for minorities, but the cold hard fact is that the ARE a major political, economic, and social problem that needs to be addressed.”

The reality is that the electorate is mostly white. Blacks vote almost 90% Democrat. Hispanics vote Democrat 2:1 over Republican. Whites have hovered around 50/50 for several decades. When Obama was elected, it was a pretty even split of the white vote. After Obama though, the white vote has shifted more Republican with about almost a 3:2 split in favor of Republican candidates.

The “social problem that needs to be addressed” is how to reach these minorities and convince them that socialism will destroy their future and the future of their children. At the same time, we need to persuade more whites also. Minority votes are more predictable, and outcomes of elections usually boil down to turnout. But whites who vote left are a much bigger threat to our Republic than minorities at this time.

And I can tell you one thing that will not help reach them: when the lies the media tells them that say conservatives are just white supremacists, and then these lies get reinforced with “facts” as you like to say, that certain members of conservative forums openly call for taking away the voting privileges of blacks.

The ten percent or less of blacks who are willing to support conservative candidates are needed badly. We need their help. We need their efforts in converting friends and family members who may not be able to hear it from white conservatives. Gestures of kindness can help also.

Do you realize how hard it is for someone who grows up in a crime-ridden neighborhood to live responsibly? Black kids are being taught that white people, especially white conservatives, hate them and would like to make them slaves. The best way to shatter that myth is to show kindness to these kids.

What the Democrats have been peddling to black Americans is poison. Like you said, poor leadership by black Democrats (or black-supported Democrats) in large cities have created a disaster. You’re right about this. It proves that liberal policies don’t work.

Trump said he was going to help blacks with increased school choice, safer communities, and financial reforms to make it easier to start a business. If he can accomplish this and reach out to blacks, and black leaders in particular, and just get a small shift in their voting habits, the results could be huge. If blacks could truly see that conservatives care about their futures and the futures of their children, many would switch their political views.

Remember, before the New Deal, blacks were overwhelmingly Republican. After the Great Depression and the New Deal, they switched. But even in 1960, blacks still were about 1/3 Republican. Barry Goldwater pursued the Southern white vote in a way that alienated blacks, who fled the Republican party in droves. A lot of this has to do with the perception that certain whites want to take away their rights.

In some cases blacks have remained more conservative than whites on average. Particularly, blacks have opposed homosexual activism, and especially homosexual “marriage.” The margin of difference between white and black has gone down, but blacks are still more likely to be opposed than whites.

Blacks also consider faith to be more important in their lives than most whites. Black Americans are in nearly the eightieth percentile, compared with whites at around 60 percent. This also means that blacks may be more open to change by appealing to their faith. The Democrat party is not pro-faith.

The Democrat party only support financial help for blacks when it buys them votes and keeps these constituents trapped on the plantation. The Democrat party does not support school choice (while most blacks strongly prefer it).

Blacks are also not so big on illegal immigration or even mass immigration that further undermines opportunities for American citizens.

So the way to “address” the problems with race have to do with outreach, kindness, paying attention to areas of mutual interest and agreement, and above all cutting the nonsense of advocating taking away voting rights / privileges based on race.

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