Restoration Letters to the Editor

Citizens who cannot vote need their voices heard
From the UK Kentucky Kernel
Column by Joe Gallenstein

This year, we saw a triumph of democracy, as not only did the number of new voters surge, but we also saw many people voting for the first time. We saw people all across the country celebrate democracy, join together and make their voices heard. A majority of Americans came together and handed to our public figures a mandate of change saying that it is time we, again, honored the hardworking men and women of this country, and not forget their interests. It is time that we followed through on that promise, the promise that this is a country by, for and of the people.

Yet during this election there were over 186,000 people in Kentucky alone who are U.S. citizens and could not make their voices heard. More than 100,000 people in this state who pay taxes, send their children to school, go to work or attend classes right next to the rest of us, are continually being told that this process is not for them. That their voice is not needed, and that their opinions are not valued...

Click here to read the rest of this article at the UK Kentucky Kernel's website.

There was a letter to the editor published in the Kernel opposing restoration of voting rights in reaction to Joe's piece.  If you'd like to write your own letter to the editor in response, that would be wonderful.  You can even submit a letter online Here.

And here's another piece on Restoration recently published in the Pennsylvania Mercury, brought to our attention by the Sentencing Project's weekly news.

I'm not quite sure when or where various states decided that a convicted felon should lose the right to vote. Perhaps it was back many, many years ago when a convicted felon was usually only someone who had committed a violent crime so the state felt since that person was likely to spend their life behind bars, they should not be allowed to vote.

However, over the past 20 years, the list of what constitutes a "felony" has grown rapidly, encompassing everything from bouncing checks to petty theft to possession of small amounts of drugs.

We are a nation of prisons and our rate of incarceration is the fastest growing in the world. Most of our crimes carry the option of being labeled a felony.

Now think about this. When someone tells you they are a convicted felon, you unwittingly shrink away from them a bit because mentally you still associate felony with "violent" criminal activity. In fact, most convicted felons who have served their time and are out of jail as active members of society have never committed a violent crime. Most of them were drug and theft related crimes...

To read the full piece in the Mercury, click Here.