Over at TalkLeft, there is an interesting piece about disenfranchised felons. Thirty seven states allow felons who have served their sentences to vote. That leaves a lot of people disenfranchised, and TalkLeft believes that if they could vote, those people would likely vote Democratic. I've heard this argument before, and while I don't favor allowing felons to vote just because they might vote Democratic, I do think it is unfair that so many people lose their right to vote even though they have completed their sentences. Theoretically, once someone has done their time successfully, they are supposed to be brought back into society; we all know it doesn't quite work that way, and this may be a contributing factor to recidivism, which is a huge problem.
I'm curious what you think - should all the states allow felons who have served their sentences to vote? If not, why not?
PS. - TalkLeft's original post on this subject concerned Martha Stewart; it got noticed by Faux News, and they mentioned TalkLeft on the air.
