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	Disfranchisement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Disenfranchisement or disfranchisement is the revocation of, or failure to grant, the right of suffrage (the right to vote) to a person or group of people.
		Another example is the disenfranchisement of entire groups of people, such as women, various racial, ethnic or religious minorities depending on the country, or members of some political groups.
		This is a good example of the intentional disenfranchisement of a group of people (British colonists in America) by the government in Britain.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Disenfranchising (1038 words)

	Overview and Summary Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States
		While felony disenfranchisement laws should be of concern in any democracy, the scale of their impact in the United States is unparalleled: an estimated 3.9 million U.S. citizens are disenfranchised, including over one million who have fully completed their sentences.
		That so many people are disenfranchised is an unintended consequence of harsh criminal justice policies that have increased the number of people sent to prison and the length of their sentences, despite a falling crime rate.
		As a result of the considerable variation among the states, disenfranchisement laws form a national “crazyquilt.”20 Within the federal structure of the U.S. it may be appropriate that each state determine voting qualifications for local and state offices.
	www.hrw.org /reports98/vote/usvot98o.htm (2267 words)

	Felon Voting Disenfranchisement A Policy Whose Time Has Passed?
		The racial impact of disenfranchisement policies is sometimes justified as an inevitable if unfortunate aspect of a race-neutral criminal justice system: if members of a continued from page six particular racial or ethnic group are more involved in crime, the consequent disproportionate loss of voting rights is merely a result of their activity.
		Although disenfranchisement laws in New York State are less restrictive than some-only prisoners and parolees are disenfranchised-litigants led by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund are challenging the statute in Hayden v.
		Disenfranchisement is but one of the many consequences of a felony conviction in most states.
	www.thirdworldtraveler.com /Election_Reform/Felon_Disenfranchisement.html (1881 words)

	Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965
		The 15th Amendment prohibited explicit disenfranchisement on the basis of race or prior enslavement.
		From 1868-1888, the principal techniques of disenfranchisement were illegal, based on violence and massive fraud in the vote counting process.
		The history of fl disenfranchisement demonstrates that it was a product not simply of the actions of Southern states and individuals, but of a failure to uphold and exercise federal power.
	www.umich.edu /~lawrace/disenfranchise1.htm (2132 words)

	One More Step Toward Universal Suffrage (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		At the turn of the 20th century, criminal disenfranchisement laws -- in conjunction with poll taxes, literacy tests and other structural measures - -- were retooled with the intent of denying fl men their newly won right to vote.
		Were it not for felon disenfranchisement laws, the composition of Congress would tilt dramatically toward the left, according to a study in the December 2002 issue of the American Sociological Review.
		Felon disenfranchisement fails the proportionality standard in two ways: (1) by applying to all felonies, rather than felonies specifically related to electoral fraud; and (2) by being overly severe, at least in the case of a lifetime loss of voting rights.
	www.mapinc.org /drugnews/v03/n1831/a08.html?397 (1023 words)

	Felon Disenfranchisement: The Roots of Exclusion \| Western Prison Project
		Felony disenfranchisement is the loss of the right to vote (either permanently or for a period of time) due to a felony conviction.
		Disenfranchisement gained a whole new dimension during the era of Reconstruction in the late 1800’s.
		Felony disenfranchisement, in combination with many of the other schemes to keep African Americans from voting, worked, and African Americans in the U.S. South (and, by extension, across the country) were pushed to the political margins.
	www.westernprisonproject.org /info/nation/story/195 (956 words)

	DC Vote - Voting Rights and Disenfranchisement
		Felon disenfranchisement is significant not only because of the number of citizens it affects, but also because of its disproportionate impact on the voting power of racial minorities." Thirteen percent, or 1.4 million, of the nation's male African American population of voting age have already been disenfranchised as a result of this policy.
		The number of people disenfranchised as a result of criminal convictions has increased dramatically in recent years as a result of the introduction of harsh sentencing policies such as mandatory minimum sentences, "three strikes" laws and truth-in- sentencing laws.
		One of the historical underpinnings for disenfranchisement laws was the exclusion of African Americans from voting and from participation in national politics prior to adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that prohibited discrimination in voter registration and in the design of electoral districts.
	www.dcvote.org /trellis/acting/votingrightsanddisenfranchisement.cfm (2505 words)

	Racially disparate felon disenfranchisement in Massachusetts - Prison Policy Initiative
		Although the number of people subject to disenfranchisement in Massachusetts is small, the implications are large.
		The creation of a new disenfranchisement scheme in 2000 makes matters worse because it tells the communities that have suffered historic exclusion from the ballot box that they are, in fact, still not welcome.
		Percentage of voting age population disenfranchised by race, ethnicity and gender, January 1, 2002.
	www.prisonpolicy.org /reports/mass_disenfranchisement.shtml (1131 words)

	Florida's legacy of voter disenfranchisement (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		The disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Florida voters in the 2000 presidential election evoked deep-felt anger, especially among African Americans who only a few decades ago had to fight to win the right to vote in Florida and other Southern states.
		In the presidential election of 1888, prior to the passage of the disenfranchising laws, 75 percent of adult male Floridians voted.
		In the past, the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South was aimed at preventing fl and white laborers and farmers from waging a common political struggle against the economic forces that oppressed them.
	www.wsws.org /articles/2001/apr2001/flor-a09.shtml (3270 words)

	Peter Kirsanow Speaks About Elections and Voter Disenfranchisement
		Some people said that dogs and hoses were being used, specifically against fl voters, to prevent them from going to the polls; that other tactics of intimidation were being used to prevent voters from casting their ballots.
		At the conclusion of the investigations that I just described, there was no evidence of any type of harassment or intimidation or disenfranchisement — as defined by an intentional attempt to prevent voters from casting a ballot or discriminatory attempt to prevent voters from casting a ballot.
		Some of these claims are that a million fls were disenfranchised last time around — that their votes were stolen.
	www.cfif.org /htdocs/freedomline/current/in_our_opinion/voter_disenfranchisement.htm (2686 words)

	Drug Policy Alliance: The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons
		In a country that has extended suffrage to virtually every other class of citizen, ex-felons are the sole segment of our population deemed unworthy to exercise what the Supreme Court has called "the right preservative of all other rights," the right to vote.
		The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons provides a comprehensive overview of the history, nature, and far-reaching sociological and political consequences of denying ex-felons the right to vote.
		In a timely appendix to the 2004 election, Elizabeth Hull makes her case that the battle for civil rights will not be won unless the same rights afforded to all other American citizens are restored to ex-felons, who have fulfilled their obligations to society.
	www.drugpolicy.org /library/022806disenfranchisement.cfm (217 words)

	Felon Disenfranchisement: Pennsylvania's Sinister Face of Vote Dilution
		The linchpin of the Commonwealth's disproportionate disenfranchisement of minorities is Pennsylvania's Election Code[33] which, akin to related constitutional provisions, neither expressly disenfranchises incarcerated prisoners nor, for that matter, anyone convicted of a criminal offense.
		Judgments by the state judiciary that disenfranchisement of incarcerated felons is constitutional[50] and that the General Assembly has power to except persons confined in a penal institution from this essence of democracy[51] are not matters of attendant impracticalities or contingencies; they are functions of legal design.
		The petition challenged, in part, such disenfranchisement's enhancement of the power of predominately white, rural, prison‑district voters and their legislative representation while those fundamental aspects of democracy were concomitantly diluted for urban minority voters and districts.
	www.prisonsucks.com /scans/yount/sinisterface.shtml (6560 words)

	Drug Policy Alliance: Voting Rights
		Disenfranchisement laws prevent people with felony convictions in the United States from voting during the course of their incarceration, their parole and –; in some states – for the rest of their lives.
		Florida, a hotly disputed state in the 2000 election, is one of the states that disenfranchises felons for life.
		It’s clear that most people in the United States want a change: in a recent national survey, 80 percent of those polled supported the restoration of voting rights for people convicted of felonies who have completed their sentences.
	www.drugpolicy.org /law/felon (406 words)

	Legislative Changes On Felony Disenfranchisement, 1996-2003 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		More than four million Americans are currently unable to vote due to laws in 48 states and the District of Columbia that disenfranchise varying categories of persons currently serving a felony sentence or in some states, persons who have completed their sentence.
		Overall, the strong direction of movement on disenfranchisement is toward expanding the right to vote.
		As such, they reflect a growing trend among Americans to consider voting as a fundamental right, as well as a recognition that there should be limits on the consequences of a criminal conviction.
	www.soros.org /initiatives/justice/articles_publications/publications/legislative_changes20030901 (423 words)

	Latino 'Felony Disenfranchisement' MALDEF Releases First-of-its-Kind Study Press Release 18feb04 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		Latinos generally are disproportionately disenfranchised at higher rates - and are more likely to be banned from voting - compared to their percentage of the general citizen voting age population.
		Among the 4.7 million disenfranchised citizens, approximately 1.8 million are African-American.14 Through this statistic alone, it is clear that felony disenfranchisement laws have a disproportionate negative effect on the African-American community.
		Latino disenfranchisement through these laws will be compounded even more in the future based on the high rate of growth the Latino population has maintained over the last decade.
	www.mindfully.org /Reform/2004/Latino-Felony-Disenfranchisement18feb04.htm (2229 words)

	Family Life Center > Political Punishment: The Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement for Rhode Island Communities
		Felon disenfranchisement is the legal restriction of voting rights due to a past or current felony conviction, and it prevents approximately 4.7 million US citizens from voting nationwide.
		(5) As a result, disenfranchisment is not a rare punishment, nor is it one reserved for Rhode Island’s worst offenders.
		Felon disenfranchisement is a powerful feature of Rhode Island’s political system, and one that has lasting consequences for political representation and racial equality.
	www.ri-familylifecenter.org /index.php?name=ppintro (688 words)

	The Florida Myth Spreads - CBS News
		Claims that thousands of fls were disenfranchised, harassed, and intimidated from voting ran rampant.
		Given that distortions of the Commission's Florida 2000 report formed much of the basis for the disenfranchisement myth, several commissioners were concerned that any irregularities reported by staff, however minor, would be hyped into yet another "stolen election." But at the commission's November 12, 2004, meeting, the staff reported absolutely nothing.
		Many of these fl voters apparently failed to pay attention to the subtext of the disenfranchisement claims -- that Republicans were trying their best to prevent fls from voting.
	www.cbsnews.com /stories/2005/01/11/opinion/main666211.shtml (1140 words)

	Felon Disenfranchisement Is Constitutional, And Justified - National Constitution Center (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		In particular, it is claimed that, because a disproportionate number of felons are African Americans, therefore Congress can pass a ban on felon disenfranchisement as part of its authority to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments prohibitions of racial discrimination.
		Indeed, Section 2 of the 14th Amendment itself contemplates this disenfranchisement, since it acknowledges that “the right to vote” may be “abridged … for participation in rebellion, or other crime ….” Surely this is some evidence that the reasons for disenfranchising criminals need not be racially discriminatory.
		The fact that an overwhelming number of states have passed such disenfranchisement laws also indicates that something other than racial discrimination is indeed the motive.
	www.constitutioncenter.org /education/ForEducators/Viewpoints/FelonDisenfranchisementIsConstitutional,AndJustified.shtml (1110 words)

	Demos - A Network for Ideas & Action - Felon Disenfranchisement
		In "Punishing at the Polls: The Case against Disenfranchising Citizens with Felony Convictions" political scientist Alec Ewald sheds new light on the fundamentally undemocratic nature of felony disenfranchisement laws.
		He concludes that felony disenfranchisement laws are in profound conflict with America's best ideals of fairness and traditions of democracy.
		This brief examines the relationship between criminal justice practices that disproportionately target people of color, and disenfranchisement laws that deprive citizens convicted of felonies of their right to vote.
	www.demos.org /page200.cfm (642 words)

	Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States. By Human Rights Watch and The ...
		The recent Human Rights Watch/Sentencing Project Report on prisoner disenfranchisement in the United States implicitly raises the troubling issue of exactly what human rights scholarship should be studying.
		This is especially the case because disenfranchisement is strongest in areas—Alabama, for example—where minority rights have, to say the least, not always been a priority of those in power.
		Prisoner disenfranchisement shares a history with literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses as a method for white racists to solidify their own power.
	www.law.harvard.edu /students/orgs/hrj/iss12/booknotes-Losing.shtml (1122 words)

	The Sentencing Project (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		In 48 states (with the exception of Maine and Vermont) and the District of Columbia prisoners cannot vote, in 36 states felons on probation or parole are disenfranchised, and in 11 states a felony conviction can result in a lifetime ban long after the completion of a sentence.
		This fundamental obstacle to participation in democratic life is exacerbated by racial disparities in the criminal justice system, resulting in an estimated 13% of fl men unable to vote.
		Public opinion data clearly shows strong support for reform - 80% of the public supports restoration of voting rights for ex-felons who have completed their sentences, and 64% and 62% respectively support the right of probationers and parolees to vote.
	www.sentencingproject.org /issues_03.cfm (996 words)

	Black Disenfranchisement, 1900
		Between 1890 and 1908, every state in the Deep South adopted a new state constitution, explicitly for the purpose of disenfranchising fls.
		Kousser argues that the disenfranchisement of poor whites was not a mere unintended consequence of laws primarily intended to exclude fls: support for disenfranchisement was strongest among rich white Democratic farmers in the fl belt, often opposed by poor whites, and rationalized by antidemocratic ideas that equated poverty and illiteracy with political incompetence.
		Not just race and class but partisan interests underwrote disenfranchisement: the Democratic party was the main force behind disenfranchisement, and the major restrictive laws were passed at times of significant Republican and Populist challenge to Democratic dominance.
	www.umich.edu /~lawrace/votetour6.htm (250 words)

	The Sentencing Project (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
		An "Agenda For Demolition": The Fallacy and the Danger of the "Subversive Voting" Argument for Felony Disenfranchisement by Alec C. Ewald
		Studies of Voting Behavior and Felony Disenfranchisement Among Individuals in the Criminal Justice System in New York, Connecticut, and Ohio by Ernest Drucker and Ricardo Barreras
		Triple-Decker Disenfranchisement: First-Person Accounts of Losing the Right to Vote among Poor, Homeless Americans with a Felony Conviction by Matthew Cardinale
	www.sentencingproject.org /pubs_05.cfm (1091 words)

	Civil rights panel blasts Florida vote procedures / Black voters disenfranchised, report says
		Florida's conduct of the 2000 presidential election was marked by "injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency" that unfairly penalized minority voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded in a report that criticizes top state officials -- particularly Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- for allowing disparate treatment of voters.
		But the report says that Gov. Bush and Harris "chose to simply ignore the mounting evidence" that voters were having serious problems on election day, perpetuating "a pattern and practice of injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency" that denied those citizens the right to vote.
		Fifty-four percent of votes rejected during the Florida election were cast by fl voters, according to the report, scheduled for a commission vote Friday.
	www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/06/05/MN37482.DTL (357 words)

	The 2000 Election: Where's the Disenfranchisement?
		The following is an examination into the issue of disenfranchisement in the 2000 election focusing on the results from Florida.
		But voter error is not the same thing as "disenfranchisement" and it certainly isn't evidence of any conspiracy or plot to steal or suppress fl votes.
		Another allegation made of voter disenfranchisement is Florida's use of a 'convicted felons list' which has the names of all convicted felons, which under Florida law, are banned from voting.
	www.glennbeck.com /news/08092004.shtml (2210 words)

	Republicans Pressed To Halt Voter-Suppression Efforts
		While the Republican secretary of state at the time, Rep. Katherine Harris, certified a Bush victory in Florida by a mere 500-some votes, tens of thousands of eligible voters, mainly African Americans, were either disenfranchised or unable to have their votes counted as a result of malfunctioning voting machines.
		Finally, Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary state and another co-chair of the Bush campaign in that state, has, among other moves, insisted that registration applications that are not posted on the correct weight paper are to be cancelled, also restricted access to provisional ballots, and issued confusing directives regarding the right of ex-felons to vote.
		Those concerns were also echoed Thursday when an independent group of international election observers sponsored by California-based Global Exchange complained that election officials in two Ohio and three Florida counties have refused requests by the delegation to observe at polling cites and tabulation centers.
	www.commondreams.org /headlines04/1029-02.htm (1234 words)

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