An estimated 5.2 million people with felony convictions are barred from voting in elections – a condition known as disenfranchisement. Each state has its own laws on disenfranchisement that range from allowing people with felony convictions to vote from prison to restoring voting rights after completion of some or all of the sentence to banning former felons from voting permanently.
Proponents of felon re-enfranchisement say that people with felony convictions who have paid their debt to society by completing their sentences should have all of their rights and privileges restored. They argue that efforts to block people with felony convictions from voting are unfair, undemocratic, and politically or racially motivated.
Opponents say that voting restrictions on people with felony convictions are consistent with other voting limitations such as age, residency, sanity, etc., and other restrictions such as no guns for violent offenders and no sex offenders near schools. They say that people with felony convictions have demonstrated poor judgment and should not be trusted with a vote.
