Trump's election shows the hypocrisy of felon disenfranchisement - (Food for Thought)

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Posted on 11/20/2024 12:09:48 PM PST by re_tail20

...In many states, those with felony convictions are barred from voting. Black Americans are more than three times as likely to be disenfranchised as other groups.

A nation in which 4 million Americans were denied the right to vote due to a felony conviction has just elected a president who was convicted of 34 felony charges.

In Florida, where President-elect Donald Trump is registered to vote, a person convicted of a felony can vote only after completing the terms of their sentence, including full payment of any fines, fees, costs and restitution.

Trump, who in May was convicted in New York for falsifying business records, has not yet been sentenced, much less completed the terms of his sentence.

But under Florida state law, a person convicted in another state loses their voter eligibility only if the conviction would make them ineligible to vote in that state. In New York, only people who are currently imprisoned on a felony conviction are restricted from casting ballots.

Florida is one of two states, along with Tennessee, where more than 6% of the adult population, or one out of every 17 adults, is barred from voting. More than 961,000 Floridians are currently banned from voting, according to The Sentencing Project. The vast majority of them — an estimated 730,000 — have served their sentences but remain disenfranchised because they cannot afford to pay court-ordered fines, fees and costs.

Trump’s election has exposed these policies for the racially discriminatory hypocrisy that they are.

Felony disenfranchisement is undeniably rooted in white supremacy. In order to be admitted to the Union after the Civil War, the former Confederate states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed the privileges of citizenship — including the right to vote — to formerly enslaved Americans.

Prohibited by federal law...

(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...

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1 posted on 11/20/2024 12:09:48 PM PST by re_tail20

To: re_tail20

2 posted on 11/20/2024 12:11:43 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

3 posted on 11/20/2024 12:16:05 PM PST by sauropod ("This is a time when people reveal themselves for who they are." James O'Keefe Ne supra crepidam)

To: sauropod

4 posted on 11/20/2024 12:18:53 PM PST by TheDon (Resist the usurpers! Remember the J6 political prisoners!)

To: re_tail20

5 posted on 11/20/2024 12:21:17 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)

To: sauropod

6 posted on 11/20/2024 12:21:30 PM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)

To: re_tail20

7 posted on 11/20/2024 12:21:52 PM PST by PghBaldy (12/14/12 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15/12 - 1030am - Obama team scouts photo-op locations.)

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