Should Felons Be Able to Vote

Should Felons Be Able to Vote? “We let ex-convicts marry, reproduce, buy beer, own property and drive. They don’t lose their freedom of religion, their right against self-incrimination… they can’t be trusted to help choose our leaders… If we thought criminals could never be reformed, we wouldn’t let them out of prison in the first place (Chapman, Steve).” Many believe that felons should be able to vote due to the fact that they served their time in prison and already received their consequence. When felons already served their time, they are told they have their “freedom”. Yet, they do not have the same rights they did before they were arrested. Felons have paid enough of a price by serving their assigned sentence which shouldn’t lead into having the right to vote taken away from them. On the other hand, others believe that felons do not deserve the right to vote. Such as, Ehrlinch, “I don’t think you reward the franchise to those who commit the most horrific crimes… (Ehrlinch, Robert).” He states that, voting is a reward and felons shouldn’t be rewarded because of their crimes. They also believe felons who convicted a crime have shown bad-judgment, which proves them unfit to make good decisions, especially choosing the nation's leaders. Although many believe that if felons are given the right to vote, it will be a reward to them, however, there are those like myself, who believe that they should be given the right to vote because they still play a role into our society and state. Many of the supporters of a felon’s right to vote believe that it is unfair to seemingly punish them twice for the same act. They believe that a felon’s debt to society is their time behind bars; they don’t believe that a felon should lose their vote and spend time behind bars. Felons who lose their right to vote would be too many punishments for one crime. Just because they have paid enough of their debt to be allowed out of prison, does not mean they are not continuing

Cited: Chapman, Steve. Editorial. ProCon.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. "Felon Voting" ["Should felons be allowed to vote?"]. ProCon.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. Washington Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2006.