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Should NH felons permanently lose their right to vote?

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Currently in NH, felons are not allowed to vote while imprisoned, but have their voting rights automatically restored once they have been released. However, in states such as Florida and Iowa, some or all felons permanently forfeit voting rights unless restored individually by a court action or gubernatorial intervention.

This issue is a political one, as high U.S. incarceration rates mean that former felons can make up a significant voting block in swing states or districts.

There has been no effort in New Hampshire to permanently disenfranchise felons.

Those in favor of permanently removing the right of felons to vote argue that those who have broken the law shouldn’t be responsible in any way for creating new laws, or that people who have violated the rights of others by committing criminal acts against them don’t deserve the right to vote.

Others counter that disenfranchising felons after they have served their time unfairly removes legal citizens who have paid their full debt to society from the democratic process. They also argue that permanently removing the right of felons to vote unfairly impacts minority communities, who are incarcerated at far higher rates than whites.

UPDATE: Read our Citizen Voices℠ report and find out where New Hampshire stands on this issue.

 

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