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Should felons be allowed to vote? Should felons be allowed to vote?
Felons should be allowed to vote once they have served their sentence Felons should be allowed to vote once they have served their sentence
Felons should never be allowed to vote Felons should never be allowed to vote
Felons should be able to vote even while in prison Felons should be able to vote even while in prison
Some felons should retain their voting rights Some felons should retain their voting rights
We should leave this decision up to each state We should leave this decision up to each state
Felons have paid their debt to society Felons have paid their debt to society
No taxation without representation No taxation without representation
Voting is a privilege Voting is a privilege
Felons should not have a say in society Felons should not have a say in society
Felons have not proven that they should be allowed to vote Felons have not proven that they should be allowed to vote
The criminal justice system targets minorities The criminal justice system targets minorities
Felons are still citizens Felons are still citizens
Voting is a right Voting is a right
Felons who have not committed egregious crimes should be able to vote Felons who have not committed egregious crimes should be able to vote
States should make decisions about felony disenfranchisement independently States should make decisions about felony disenfranchisement independently
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Should felons be allowed to vote?
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Felons should never be allowed to vote

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Voting is a privilege

The Constitution frames voting as a privilege, not a right. By breaking the law, felons have proven that they do not deserve this privilege.
Ron DeSantis L. Gary Knight
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The Argument

People who oppose felony disenfranchisement speak of voting as a human right, but the Constitution does not guarantee voting rights to all citizens. Although amendments have made it unconstitutional to deny someone voting rights based on race or sex, a universal right to vote is not ratified in the Constitution. [1] The Constitution does not speak against felony disenfranchisement. Thus, felony voting restrictions are not a violation of human rights as they are described in the Constitution. If our founders had considered voting to be a human right, they would have guaranteed it to all citizens. For this reason, it is logical to conclude that America's founders considered voting a privilege, not a right. People must earn privileges. Because of this, it is rational to conclude that people must earn voting rights. Felons clearly haven't done this. On the contrary, they have acted in ways that prove they do not deserve this privilege. Our government has no qualms about depriving felons of other privileges like their freedom (by imprisoning them) so taking away voting privileges should not be an issue.

Counter arguments

While it is not formally ratified in the U.S. Constitution, the right to vote is continually referenced elsewhere. U.S. courts have stated that the right to vote "is preservative of other basic civil and political rights."[2] Disenfranchising felons of this right is fundamentally undemocratic.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Voting is not a right, it is a privilege. [P2] People must earn privileges. [P3] Felons have disqualified themselves from voting and proved that they do not deserve this privilege.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Citizens do have the inherent right to vote.

References

  1. https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/28/the-missing-right-a-constitutional-right-to-vote/
  2. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/righttovote.html
This page was last edited on Tuesday, 21 Jul 2020 at 16:51 UTC

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