Legal Commentary

New Felon Disfranchisement Awareness Project Underway

By Jeralyn

The ACLU and BlackElectorate.com have teamed up to start a new public awareness project focusing on the
"devastating effects of felony disfranchisement on this country’s African-American community."

How bad is the problem?

One out of every seven - or 1.4 million - African-American men is disfranchised and cannot vote due to a felony conviction. This rate is nearly seven times the national disfranchisement rate of one in 41 adults.

Consider the vote in Texas yesterday:

Over half a million Texan citizens will be unable to vote due to a felony conviction. Over 165,000 of those disfranchised Texans are black,” said Laleh Ispahani, Senior Policy Counsel with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “Disfranchisement runs contrary to fundamental precepts of democracy, human rights, and of giving people a second chance, a chance at true rehabilitation.”

The ACLU's page on felon disfranchisement is here. A state by state guide is here.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 05, 2008 (boomark / email).