At issue:
- A striking 6.1 million Americans are prohibited from voting due to laws that disenfranchise citizens convicted of felony offenses. Felony disenfranchisement rates vary by state, as states institute a wide range of disenfranchisement policies. (Uggen, C., Larson, L., & Shannon, S. (2016). 6 million lost voters: State-level estimates of felony disenfranchisement, 2016. The Sentencing Project.)
- One study found that disenfranchisement policies likely affected the results of seven U.S. Senate races from 1970 to 1998 as well as the hotly contested 2000 Bush-Gore presidential election (Uggen, C. & Manza, J. (2002). Democratic contraction? Political consequences of felon disenfranchisement in the United States. American Sociological Review, 67 (6), 777-803.)
- Disenfranchisementpolicies disproportionately impact people of color. Nationwide, one in every 13 black adults cannot vote as the result of a felony conviction, and in three states – Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia – more than one in five black adults is disenfranchised