Felons and the Right to Vote

About 4.7 million Americans, more than 2  percent of the adult population, are barred from voting because of a felony conviction. Denying the vote to ex-offenders is antidemocratic, and undermines the nation's commitment to rehabilitating people who have paid their debt to society. Felon disenfranchisement laws also have a  sizable racial impact: 13 percent of black men have had their votes taken away, seven times the national average. [more]