One of the collateral consequences of a conviction in some jurisdictions is the loss of the right to vote.  Interestingly, it’s not one of the consequences deemed worthy of discussion by the court during the allocution, falling behind immigration consequences and subsequent conviction consequences.  Apparently, the perspective of the law is that it’s far more important for the defendant to know that any additional convictions will result in an enhanced sentence, which assumes that he or she is inclined toward recidivism, than the loss of his or her vote, where it’s a certain consequence.

Congress is considering a bill, the Democracy Restoration Act, which would entitle former convicts to vote in federal elections.  According to the Times, the prohibition has significant racial undertones, from its inception to its current impact.

Many of the laws disenfranchising former criminals date back to the post-Civil War era and were used to prevent freed slaves from voting. These laws still have a significant racial impact. About 13 percent of black men in this country are denied the right to vote by criminal disenfranchisement laws, more than seven times the rate for the population as a whole.

The problem, if not fear, is that a vote in the hands of former convicts will be exercised in favor of liberals.  After all, a conservative is a liberal with a mortgage (and there are few of those around these days since the housing bubble burst), while a liberal is a conservative under indictment (and there are more of those around these days since the housing bubble burst).   If all of these former convicts were allowed to vote, the slide into liberal oblivion would be devastating.  The love of democracy is colored by the sensibilities of the majority.

For those who enjoy a decent platitude, try “no taxation without representation.”  When these once-criminals get a job, or a house, or a life, and pay taxes, they would seem to be every bit as entitled to express their beliefs as to how their money should be spent as anyone else.  Given that foreign corporations are entitled to fund political campaigns, it can’t be too scary or Americans, post conviction, to do so as well, if only via their vote. 

Of course, there was once a belief that any person who was convicted of an offense and completed his sentence had paid his dues to society.  It was a proud moment, when we accepted the notion that a person could do wrong, but would not be a pariah forever.  After sucking it up and paying, we would welcome him back into society and embrace him.  This was before sex offender/jaywalking registries, but let’s put that to the side for the moment since there are far too many collateral issues involved that would muddy up the discussion.  The point is that when the sentence was served, the con became an ex-con, and we believed in second chances.

Throughout this belief, though, laws still prohibited the ex-con from voting.  Some punishments were never over.  Now that we’re at a stage in society where no one is every forgiven anything, where there are no second chances and dues are never paid, it’s interesting that Congress has suddenly shown an interest in voting rights for a group for whom there is no widespread support or concern. 

There appears to be no sound rationale for denying those convicted of a crime the vote once their sentence in completed, and there are many awfully good reasons to let them vote, as would any other taxpaying member of society.  Yet there’s a funny smell about the sudden concern for the franchise of ex-cons in Congress.  While this shouldn’t stand in the way of enactment of a law that should be passed, it would smell so much better if it was part of a more comprehensive concern for the welfare of those former convicts and their return to society as law-abiding, productive members. 

The vote is an important part of this transition, despite its absence from the plea allocution.  A job, a fair shake, even ending perpetual vilification of anyone convicted of a crime so that they can feed, clothe and shelter their children, would help as well.  Maybe even more so than a vote.