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12
0
Yes No
Debate Score:12
Arguments:6
Total Votes:12
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 Yes (6)

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Should Felons Who Have Completed Their Sentence Be Allowed to Vote?

"An estimated 5.85 million people with a felony conviction are barred from voting in elections - a condition known as disenfranchisement. Each state has its own laws on disenfranchisement. While Vermont and Maine allow felons to vote while in prison, ten other states permanently restrict certain felons from voting.

Proponents of felon re-enfranchisement say that felons who have paid their debt to society by completing their sentences should have all of their rights and privileges restored. They argue that efforts to block ex-felons from voting are unfair, undemocratic, and politically or racially motivated.

Opponents say felon voting restrictions are consistent with other voting limitations such as age, residency, sanity, etc., and other felon restrictions such as no guns for violent offenders and no sex offenders near schools. They say that convicted felons have demonstrated poor judgment and should not be trusted with a vote."  -ProCon.org

Yes

Side Score: 12
VS.

No

Side Score: 0

Taking away someone's right to vote is almost never an appropriate punishment. If they have done something that legitimately deserves to lose the right to vote, they are probably serving multiple life sentences or are in a terrorist prison. If they can let you free, they can let you vote.

Side: Yes
2 points

They've served their time and hopefully learned their lessons for any unwise decisions, since they've done this they should have their right to vote restored.

Side: Yes
2 points

Hello x:

Certainly.. However, felons shouldn't have lost the right to vote in the first place. They ARE, of course, still CITIZENS.

excon

Side: Yes
2 points

If they've served their time then yes.

Side: Yes
2 points

Being convicted of a crime doesn't mean you've lost all citizenship for life. And let's be clear, felons are not just murderers and rapists. Should someone busted for tax evasion never get to vote again?

Side: Yes
1 point

Convicts should be encouraged to become responsible members of society and the establishment of this objective can be stimulated by permitting them to participate in the election of their nation's politicians.

My deceased dad who was a cop for the best part of his working life often said, ' the majority of the world's populations are made up of criminals, some of whom have been caught and those who avoided detection'.

I feel that if all those who committed crimes were denied the right to vote the polling stations would be all but deserted on election day.

Side: Yes
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