Should convicted felons be allowed to vote?

With a presidential election looming in November, once again the topic of voting, and voter rights, have become front and center.  In the United States, almost all people with felony convictions lose their voting rights for a certain period.  Individual states set rules about how a felony conviction affects a resident’s ability to vote.

Most states automatically restore voting rights either after release from prison or after probation or parole. Some states automatically restore voting rights under specific circumstances, depending on the nature of the crime or an individual’s criminal history. Meanwhile, two states, plus Washington, DC, never revoke the voting rights of individuals convicted of a felony.

At the end of 2021, more than 1.2 million people were incarcerated in state or federal prisons, according to the Department of Justice.  Incarcerated people from Maine, Vermont, and Washington, DC, can vote from prison. These incarcerated groups were less than 1% of the total US prison population in 2021. Federal prisoners registered to vote in these places may vote while incarcerated, even if the federal prison is in a different state.

Prisoners in state-run prisons outside of these states and Washington, DC, may still request absentee ballots if their last address before incarceration was in one of those jurisdictions. However, voting absentee from an out-of-state prison may be more challenging because prison officials are not required to help inmates vote.

In twenty-three (23) states, including Pennsylvania, those with felony convictions automatically regain the right to vote when they are released from prison. This means that formerly incarcerated people can vote while serving probation or while out on parole. These states represented about 36% of the total prison population in 2021, according to the Justice Department. 

In fourteen (14) states, people formerly incarcerated for felonies automatically regain the right to vote after completing their entire sentence, including probation or parole (and, in some states, payment of certain court-appointed fines and fees). In 2021, about 30% of the total prison population came from these states.

Eleven states do not automatically restore voting rights to everyone with felony convictions. They have various rules regarding when people regain the right to vote and represented about 21% of the 2021 prison population.

Six states — Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Wyoming — automatically restore voting rights for certain crimes, such as nonviolent felonies. The specific crimes disqualifying former prisoners from automatic voting right restoration varies from state to state, but most commonly includes homicide, sexual crimes, and certain theft crimes.  In these states, the process of regaining voting rights occurs after release from prison, while others require the completion of probation or parole. However, in all these states, individuals convicted of a crime disqualifying them from automatic restoration of voting rights can only regain their rights through a pardon, legislative action, judicial order, or by submitting another kind of application or petition.

Wyoming automatically restores voting rights to first-time offenders with nonviolent felony convictions, but not to repeat offenders or people convicted of violent felonies.

In Nebraska, people formerly incarcerated for felonies must wait two years after completing their full sentence before automatically restoring their right to vote. Similarly, in Arizona, repeat offenders can petition the court for restoration of voting rights two years after the completion of their sentence, while first-time offenders have their voting rights restored automatically.

In the remaining three states (Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia), formerly incarcerated people with felonies who do not qualify for automatic restoration of rights must petition the court or state government. In Virginia and Tennessee, this petition process is the only way to restore voting rights.

A person’s voting rights can be permanently revoked for conviction of certain crimes. In some states, voting rights cannot be restored after a murder conviction, certain felonious sex offenses, or election-related crimes. Some of the 39 states that otherwise automatically restore voting rights to all former prisoners have specific voting restrictions for people who commit election-related crimes.

So, should a convicted felon be allowed to vote, and under what circumstances?  Should incarcerated persons serving a sentence be allowed to vote?  What about upon completion of their sentence?  What about during an appeal, which can last years?  Many argue that to not allow voting rights restored, especially after a person has paid their debt to society, is to add a life sentence upon the original punishment the person originally received.  Some argue that this loss of a major right can act as a deterrent to committing crime.

An estimated 2% of the voting age population in the United States will be ineligible to cast ballots during this year’s midterm elections due to state laws banning people with felony convictions from voting.  In a close election, these votes could make all the difference.