The Sentencing Project has pushed for reforms that make it easier for those who had difficulty with the law to regain their voting rights. The group considers the U.S. position on felony disenfranchisement to be an "extreme outlier" compared to the rest of world.
Marc Mauer, executive director of the group, argued against limiting the rights of felons. "You don’t lose your fundamental rights of citizenship when you’re convicted of a felony. You can still buy or sell property, you can get married or divorced," Mauer said in a radio interview.
Mauer said, for example, Israel separates criminal behavior and citizens’ rights and recounted a story of a law student who assassinated the prime minister in 1995. When the student’s voting rights came up, Mauer said, the Israeli High Court took a strong stand against disenfranchisement, according to the Sentencing Project.
"In their decision, [the judges] said we must separate our contempt for his action from his rights as a citizen," said Mauer. "It’s very instructive, I think, that the highest court in the land could come out with a decision like this about the most despised Jewish citizen of the state."
Recently, the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Laboratory conducted a poll asking respondents their thoughts about felons voting rights. According to the poll, 71% of likely voters in Florida would support a proposition—Amendment 4—to restore the rights of felons who cannot vote.
Demographically, 82% of African-American respondents said they favored such an amendment, with 69% of white respondents and 65% of Hispanic respondents indicating they support restoration.
"These results reflect the status of African-Americans as the population most directly affected by Florida’s felon disenfranchisement laws," said Natasha Christie, chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the university.
"With such a large majority of likely voters saying they would vote 'yes' on Amendment 4, this indicates views on this issue are becoming more progressive overall throughout the state, regardless of race."
According to the Sentencing Project, 1.4 million people stand to regain their voting rights should the amendment pass.
The American Civil Liberties Union has also joined the fray with respect to laws that target minorities. The ACLU says it is currently litigating "voter suppression and minority vote dilution cases in over a dozen states, from coast to coast, in every region of the country."
"We are the only civil rights organization committed to defending the voting rights of all Americans, with legislative and litigation capacity in all 50 states," it boasts.
The Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank, has weighed in favoring a discretionary approach to restoring voting rights for convicted felons.
"Sound policy reasons support both the disenfranchisement of felons and cautious, individualized consideration when reenfranchising them. Indeed, it is entirely reasonable for a state to determine that no mechanical formula will help it decide whether a felon has in fact turned over a new leaf—that is, whether it is likely that the felon is now responsible, trustworthy, and committed enough to following the law that he or she can be entrusted with a role in the solemn enterprises of justice,” it wrote in a recent brief.
“There is some irony in the fact that the same groups that insist that sentencing should he highly discretionary and are critical of, for example, the federal Sentencing Guidelines, now insist that only mechanical decisionmaking can be constitutional.”