The rapid growth in the felon population over the
past three decades has made the use of disenfranchisement of felons
and ex-felons increasingly significant for voting rights in general,
sufficient to represent a partial retreat from the 150-year campaign
to make the franchise universal. In this paper, Manza and Uggen
focus on the denial of voting rights to nonincarcerated felons.
Such restrictions are unique among democratic countries around
the world. Most states have laws in place restricting voting rights
of felons not in prison but living in their communities, and some
states disenfranchise ex-felons as well. While survey data on
this issue is limited, the authors present evidence clearly suggesting
that the public does not support the disenfranchisement of nonincarcerated
felons. Finally, they assess whether the growth of the disenfranchised
but nonincarcerated felon and ex-felon population might have reached
the point where it has the potential to influence election outcomes—probably
to the detriment of the Democratic party.
Jeff Manza, Sociology and Institute
for Policy Research, Northwestern University Christopher Uggen, Sociology, University of Minnesota
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