Eugene V Debs ran for president from prison.
He got over 900,000 votes.
Posted on 11/08/2017 6:57:40 AM PST by sdthree
During Tuesday’s election in Virginia, Williams had originally planned to go and vote right at 6 a.m., but her ride was delayed a few hours. Williams, a former felon, lost her right to vote decades ago because she was convicted of a felony and Virginia bars felons from voting unless that right is restored by the governor.
Williams, who is now back in school working to earn a degree that will help her become an auto-mechanic, said she was last in prison in 2014, but only recently had her voting rights restored by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D). And so on Tuesday, at the age of 55, Williams cast a ballot for the first time in her life.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
You sure of that?
Maybe you ought to read art 15.
I think a prior year’s W2 or a social security statement should be the prerequisite to vote. In no other facet of society are non-stakeholders given a vote over the direction of an organization.
Ideally, we’d have no income tax but just a national sales tax, and I’d be fine with allowing everyone, including freed felons, to vote since everyone will be a stakeholder.
Those that take the time to are probably very amenable to being persuaded to a conservative line of thought. I’ve run into a couple in my line of work who earned felonies (admittedly deserved and steeped in youthful stupidity for most, one that was by any metric an epic government screw-over) and labor under orders of magnitude more difficulty in securing and maintaining their current occupations. In their individual instances I consider it an injustice that they aren’t able to be restored to the full rights of citizenship which should be the goal of any type of reform system.
great. just great.
If we’re going to do that, then they should be fully restored or the rights denial should have a limit of 5 or 10 years, etc...
Society needs a baseline to judge this, and there should be some “extra credit” available to buy down time. That extra effort should be the type of things that really demonstrate you want back into the “normal society”.
There also should be certain crimes of violence and deviance or treachery that place one in a situation where societal redemption is close to or totally impossible.
That’s a double edged sword, if you put someone back out in society hamstrung with the permanent disability of abridged rights and privledges there’s a large incentive, particularly from an employability standpoint, to commit crime to make any financial headway. If they have some level of hope that life can be normal it goes a long way to keeping them on the straight path.
> Hate to say it. But I think felons should be allowed to vote. <
That’s a bold statement on a conservative website, poinq. And I pretty much agree with you. Once a felon is out of prison, AND has completed his parole time, he should get his rights back. All of his rights. Many states follow that rule now.
“The only way a felon becomes an “ex-felon” is when their conviction is overturned. More orwellian doublespeak from leftist lunatics.”
Sort of like becoming an ex-virgin.
Maybe then they need to be in prison longer if that’s the case.
14th Amendment, Section 2 allows states to deny the right to vote for “participation in rebellion, or other crime”
> Maybe then they need to be in prison longer if that’s the case. <
Interestingly enough, in Maine and Vermont you can vote in state elections even while in prison.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx
No, punishment that goes beyond the sentence served is not part of the sentence. Restoration of rights should follow paying one’s debt.
Automotive Degree?
Nope. The permanent loss of certain rights IS part of the so-called “debt.”
How does the loss of voting rights affect employability?
Nope. A debt is a given amount, not eternal.
Obviously the permanent loss of the vote is part of the punishment, because in most states that’s the law, with the ability to petition to regain that right. Your opinion may differ, but you are wrong on the facts, because of the law.
IANAL, so I’ll shut up. Punishment that exceeds what the jury/courts lay down is wrong, IMO.
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