Last updated on: 9/3/2010 | Author: ProCon.org

Alec C. Ewald, PhD Biography

Title:
Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont
Position:
Pro to the question "Should Felons Who Have Completed Their Sentence (Incarceration, Probation, and Parole) Be Allowed to Vote?"
Reasoning:

“[T]he case for barring people convicted of crime from voting is not a practical one at all, but a jumble of conjectures, ill-informed fears, and mystical images of the body politic, all piled on top of social theories three hundred years in age….

At a minimum, proponents of any restrictive policy in a modern democracy must explain how the proposed exclusion would strengthen our democracy and protect the public good. Advocates of disenfranchisement fail that test.”

“An Agenda for Demolition: The Fallacy and the Danger of the Subversive Voting Argument for Felony Disenfranchisement,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 2004
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with PhD's, JD's, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to felon voting issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to felon voting issues.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Vermont, 2006-Present
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Union College, 2004-2006
  • Expert Witness at request of counsel for Plaintiffs, Farrakhan v. Washington, provided written report on felon disenfranchisement, 2006
  • Report Author, “A ‘Crazy-Quilt’ of Tiny Pieces: State and Local Administration of American Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws,” prepared for The Sentencing Project, 2005
  • Grant recipient from The Sentencing Project for research on role of state and local officials in implementing disenfranchisement law, 2004
  • Instructor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2001-2004
  • University Fellowship, University of Massachusetts. Won funding for half-year release from teaching duties in university-wide competition; completed research and writing of “‘Civil Death’: The Ideological Paradox of Criminal Disenfranchisement Law in the United States,” Wisconsin Law Review, 2002
  • Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, 2000-2001
  • Congressional Quarterly Press Award, Best Paper by a Graduate Student, Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association, for “Getting Ready for Garza? Judge Emilio Garza, Civil Liberties, and the Politics of Judicial Selection,” 2000
  • Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Political Science, University of North Carolina, 1999-2000
  • History Teacher, The Putney School, Putney, Vermont, 1992-1998
Education:
  • PhD, Political Science, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2005
  • MA, Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000
  • BA, Political Science and International Relations, Tufts University, 1992
Other:
  • None found
Quoted in:
  1. Does the Social Contract Theory Present a Valid Reason for Felon Disenfranchisement?