Behind the Campaign to Give Felons the Right to Vote
Sat October 18th, 2003 13:41 MSTMost Americans recognize that one of the punishments for committing felonies, as opposed to misdemeanors, is the permanent loss of a number of rights. Included in these are the right to possess firearms and the right to vote.
But there is more to this story than one might think…
For a while now there has been a campaign[talkleft.com] to restore one of these rights: the right to vote. The reason: felons are a natural Democrat constituency. The reason for restoring only that one right: those behind the movement are not true civil rights advocates, who would also restore second amendment rights, but rather those seeking to increase votes for the left.
A study at the non leftist Institute for Policy Research found that if Felons had the right to vote, Democrats would have controlled the Senate continuously since 1986 and Al Gore would have won the Presidency in 2000.
Naturally, there is also a Politically Correct reason for this. It seems that minorities are “disproportionately” represented among felons. Thus this campaign pretends to be ending racial discrimination. The fact that some minorities in fact commit felonies at a dramatically higher rate than other groups of the population is of no consequence to these pinheads. Hey, if there’s a racial disparity, it must be “the system’s” fault, right?
FRIDAY’S COMPENDIUM - Around the Blogosphere
ALMTTR gives many of the gory details of the Democratic Party’s rabid (and he certainly does mean rabid) atacks on the current JITHS(Judge in the Hot Seat), Janice Brown. Make sure you take a look at the revolting cartoon…
I think that you’re right that the majority of former felons would vote Demoncratic Party. I also think that their judgment is misplaced in doing so. The Democratic Party is as corrupt as the Republicans and neither party will ever be able to meet the needs of the people of this country; felons or not.
Dear Sir I hate to say it but you may be right about this issue .Im a felon who has lost my rights . I was convicted of pos with intent . 5years later after calling the atf,tenn state police,and the va state police and asking if I was within my rights to premitive weapons hunting and all verbaly on phone said i was , I continued to hunt with a black powder gun and continued to buy a state hunting liscence untile one year a war vet and myself were hunting and staying in my uncles cabin ,that night we were drinking and were both very intoxiated next thing i know my frieng wakes me the place tore up blood a real fight sene ,I had grass stains on my pants and busted knuckeles and my friend had been beaten bad . HE said I dont about this im getting out of here , He left and I called the police because items were missing , but I still hadnt a clue what happen but I did Know my friend and I didnt fight and i told them so ,o well a 11 monthes later im indicted for feloy pos of fire are,after all was said and done i took a ple 5days in jail and 200.00 fine ,when i was escorted to the jail the same incompatant investagater said they found a therd blood type after the case was closed and said a confidential informant told him the knew more poeple were there ,Which is what i told them .thats been 5years ago and It still scares the hell out of me .Myself after my first arrest pos with intent was the only felony I never missed a election before then and I was Republician and if I could get my rights back id still be a republician . I just wish I had that right ,I also think you would find many more like myself . Mid class americans who have had to over come major hurdles because of mistakes made when they where young .
sencerly Yours : Aaron Sturgill
p.s I was looking for a site to help me restore my rights when I found your site .
I am a convicted felon and spent time in N.Y. I also live in N.Y my crime is from 1995 Berg in the 3rd. I also spent time in the Army serving my
country. I have voted before.
what i am trying to say that deep down ther is no reason for persicuting a individual after the law has deemed him able to (pay taxes again)
As we know the game with lawinforcement is to control and to manipulate for small groups personal gain. I myself have, and every day am being affected. Please get back i can Help!
Sorry, but I don’t think convicted felons should be able to vote unless they are pardoned (as a friend of mine was). It’s part of the price you have to pay.
Sorry to tell you but I, a two time felon beleive that I do deserve the write to vote. I served my time and now live in my community as a law abiding tax payer. If I must pay taxes then I should have a say in things. How else can we legalize weed if felons can’t vote?:)
Sativa, I am glad you are a law abiding tax payer. But that doesn’t give you the right to vote. Non-citizens pay tax too, and they aren’t supposed to vote.
Felons sacrifice that right when they choose to commit a felony.
I have no sympathy.
F.Y.I people…I’m a first time felon (assault and battery) and can relate to have my rights restored. However, people who say felons have no right, or should be locked up and placed somewhere are wrong. Before I became a felon I was making very good money, paid taxes, and had a good life. Things changed forever when I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Until you personally know what’s it’s like to go through what the rest of us went through, then you are the ignorant one. I applauded all felons for not giving up and hanging in there, for I too wanted to just give up. I also know that the people who are totally against felons will change their views when it happens to a loved one. Just to let other felons know, I will be starting a local chapter to help other felons and you should do the same. We all have items and experiences we are sharing every day that can help one another. So my advice to all felons, hang in there and know we are all pulling for you in many ways. God Bless!
I was convicted of a Federal charge class “d” felony for bribery. My crime was hiring someone to channel medicare patients to my home health care agency. I was sentenced to serve 3 years probation. After serving probation, I was notified I had all rights restored except the right or bear arms. In that regard I’m viewed as hardened a criminal as a murderer, drug dealer or rapist.
I was just wondering if anyone knows if a convicted felon can hunt with a muzzleloader in TN? And I also think that 98% of felons shouldnt have any rights except for a few exceptions like myself where all I did was not report a crime in an attempt to cover it up. There is much more to the story but I get mad every time I think of it.
“God Bless and dont believe the media”
I was convicted of a 5th degree mistameneor assualt & I’m not aloud to own a gun! So I doubt if you could ever restore that right for a Felon. But Voting, I think should be restored, felon or no felon. Depending on the crime, as Murderers, Rapists & Drug Dealers that rap prosonifies should be banned from deinetly owning a firearm & voting.
i WAS A VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND IT WAS A CHOICE OF HIM OR ME . I WAS CONVICTED OF A FELONY. i PAY TAXES AND HAVE NO OTHER FELONYS. I SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE AMONG OTHER THINGS.
I think its funny you think peole should not vote if they are american. Why cant they vote. you dont think your government kills people? dont you think when we put an imbargo aginst araq after the golf war that 500,000 people died because they could no get cloreen for the drinking water, medicine or other things!! felons kill 11,000 people a year. so whos worse.we need to start suport a third party canidits anyone but the corupted demercrat or republicans vote lib or greenparty. watch bowling for colingbine the movie
[From webmaster. The people who died in Iraq during the sanctions did so because Saddam took the money that waws meant for the people. The fact that this poster does not know this is sufficient to make the rest of her post irrelevant.]
This is for sativa, pinhead remarks like that will not help the situation, legalizing the gateway drug is not a smart thing to do.
My name is Cassandra Collins I’m a exfelon, I was raped in jail in 1995 In 1996 I put the Captian who raped me in Jail and wrote my own law
Sexual Violence in Prison and Jails Act (SB226 in Florida.
On May 31 2002 I got my rights back to vote with the help of Governor Jeb Bush who walked with me to register to vote.
This process is not about party its about people rights. I was with the Democractic party for 5 years and they fell to tell me this process. But thanks to God and the Governor.
God place me where I could learn and do this now I have a office where I help felon get there rights back.
I Pray I will get this country to do it all over with God Help.
Restoration Of Felons Right to vote
S.T.A.N.D. New Office
601 Miccosukee Road
Tallahassee, Florida
32308
Office: (850) 224-8222
Fax: (850) 224-9224
Website Iheardyourcry.com
I served in Vietnam during 1968 and yes I took lives to survive. On returning home I was confronted by a man with a knife who stuck it in my gut as I tried to move away. I shot this man and killed him to save my own life but since this according to Georgia law was not “equal” to self defense because I used a gun instead of a knife to stop the man I was sent to prison under voluntary manslaughter charges. I have since been pardoned, and rights restored. I was only doing what ANY human being I believe would have done. After all the government taught me all the rules of Survival in the USMC. Years later I decided to run for public office in my county and was told by my “party” to forget it. I switched parties and BOTH local parties spent money running me thru every paper and radio show about ‘How could this FELON dare to run for office?’ This “label” has haunted me and my family in ways light-hearted fools could only imagine!! I am sorry to say from my personal experience I have no faith in a system that is “run” by two idiotic parties such as these!!
Jackson
If you were pardoned with your rights restored, I don’t think you should be called a felon.
A friend of mine came back from WW-II (driving landing craft in the pacific), and pulled some armed robberies and time in San Quentin. Ronald Reagan later pardoned him and restored his rights because he became the finest human I have ever known.
I think that is appropriate.
John,
Believe me when I say that I agree! But with all the paperwork in hand me and my family are treated as ’second-class’ citizens in the country I have bled and fought for. I have the medals to prove it! But as my attorney told me,”The media is not going to pass on any attempt to make all “felons” seem like the monsters in our child-hood dreams, regardless of the class of crime it is the “Label” they zero in on!” It carries the same importance of the label of BLACK!
You cant label someone for the rest of there life
i no you aint perfect it pisses me off when someone makes a mistake in their life and people like you wanna put a label on them, you make me sick im human just like you and this is the USA i have the freedom to say how i feel, without any violence accureing
Undercover racists, unite!!!
If felons can’t have their voting rights back after serving their sentence, if they are to be denied representation in this democracy, why should they have to pay any taxes or do anything else that supports a society they have no representation in?
It was such a ludicrous and bigotted idea to ever take voting rights away in the first place. Accusing democrats of using this issue to shore up more power for themselves also works to reveal one’s own conservative/Republican bias. As it’s revealed that he/she has no concern for the obvious disenfranchisement of a citizens rights and only seeks to deny the political opposition, power.
So don’t even posture to be taking some high road when it’s only opportunism by the Right as well.
The important issue, the only issue is the denial of American citizen’s representation in this democracy, if it can be even called democracy.
At 18 yrs. of age. Steel a car and ride around town. You are a joy rider. If you drive across a State line, you are a felon. Branded as a low life scum bag the rest of your life. Being lawfull, being a Vietnam Vet, making sure your kids go to collage and become good citizens wont erase it. At age 60, have never voted, taken my son hunting, etc. Thank you for putting me in the same class as murderers, rapest, etc. I guess Martha Stewart will be a scum bag now also.
For God’s sake dont let her around a weapon.
Hey john, funny how you have something to say about convicted felons. You are a closed minded individual. How dare you say that ex felons should not get the right to vote. It is beyond my power to smack the shit out of you but it is within my power to exercise my motherfuckin american rights. i was convicted for an attempted sale of a controlled substance. they caught me with eight bags of dope at a street price of ten a bag. At the time i was livin on the streets,no mommy or daddy to fall back on, no food or shelter and not even a month into my 18th birthday. Now because a this mistake i am branded for life,asshole. walk a day in my shoes you conservative thinking imbecile. Who gave you the right to judge. Only god can judge me, if anything the american government are the biggest felons. it took brown versus board of education to get the wheels movin for people of color to vote and still it took years to finally be able to live like the whites do in this country. In closing everyone including whites came over here on ships. people forget that the white ancestor where a minority. everyone should vote regardless of where they came from. the true americans are the native americans not the majority of people who live in america (caucasions).
I was arrested 1 year ago and convicted of the manufacture, and intent to distribute pot. I was found to have in my possession 4 plants. (yes they were mine and yes I grew them)
The day after I was busted the officer in charge contacted me and informed me that the total wieght of the CDS was 488 grams, or 2 1/4 pounds. Again, the day after.
This is the problem… CDS (pot) is weighed wet therefor, it weighs ten times the actual weight as if it were sold on the street. The stem, the leaves, the root, as well as the bud are counted.. And oh yes, the moisture contained in the plant is illegal as well. This is like weighing the car that coke was being transported in.
If the CDS that I was found to be in possession of was actually processed and weighed as it would have been sold on the street. It would have weighed a little more than 2 ounces. Worth less money than it took to get that friggin helicopter of the ground.
I have lost my right to vote until I complete my court appointed sentence ( so I can’t vote in this year in the race) and I have forever lost my 2nd amendment right to own a firearm.
Yeah I was stupid, yeah I screwed up…but I was not, and never will be a dealer.. But I will always be a felon.
For those of you that have no simpathy….ask yourself this….did I hurt you or your children…the answer is no!!!!
I am a well rounded individual…I work hard, I pay taxes. I suffer from depression… I just wanted to get high and forget all my problems.
Now I am on 2 liver killing, anti depressants and feel fine. I actually wonder now how I could have been so stupid. I should have just made the neiborhood dealer rich instead of trying to get off cheap.
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Well my story is: I was 18 and broke into a house of a guy that stole some stuff which in turn we took. Not that stealing anything even if it is stolen is right. That was 14 years ago and ten years of probation. I completed the sentence given to me as many of you have and feel that with that completion my debt is paid. I had to visit my probation officer and pay them $40 once a month as well as give UA’s every month with a guy watching me. I can understand suspending civil rights till you complete the sentence given. I feel that your gun rights be restored on an individual basis. If your crime involved a weapon then maybe you should not be allowed to posses a gun. I think a few things to consider should be how long ago was your conviction, what type of crime was it? I do not think that many people need to own a 357 Smith and Wesson revolver, but I am also looking at this from a hunting stand point. It is good to see so many people talking about this topic. Would be even better to do something about it all. I am currently obtaining the needed information to request a pardon from the Govenor to obtain my civil rights. I may obtain the right to vote again, not sure however bet that the right to own a or even hold a gun is outa my sight. I do not fit the “reasons” to own/posses a gun. Are there any others that have gotten their civil rights that belong to some sort of group. If enough people could get together change could happen. If anyone has any information post it please. God Bless and keep your heads up!!!!