Felons Voting In Maryland Primary Today. Both Democrats Running Say It's Okay

[OldLady]

I don't think that's true, ice. In the south, maybe this does affect the black vote more, but you should be aware that most people in prison have never voted, and even when given the chance (as they are where I live) very few do. They may not be smart, but they know the system is corrupt and the deck is stacked against us.

What isn't true? I didn't say anything about race and felons have used bad judgment and libs don't care. Point out the specific error.

I just don't agree with the "bad judgment" theory. That only felons have bad judgment? They're the only ones who have been caught. There is no judgment test prior to voting, and just because you and I haven't been arrested doesn't mean we have good judgment.

It isn't a theory. If they ended up in prison by their actions they used bad judgment. It's a fact. Holding the rest of us as possibly as wrong makes no sense.

My argument makes sense when you try to define "good judgment." You don't think I am using good jugment by usually having a liberal stance, and I don't think you are using good judgment when you slam public education. "Good judgment" is a very murky swamp to identify or measure, because it is so subjective. Anyway, there aren't heinous criminal felons running for office, so why are you opposed to felons chosing a leader? Leaders affect us all, including the lives of ex-cons.

My threshold for qualifying good judgment was rather low. It's keeping your ass out of prison.

I am not aware of heinous criminal running for office, I didn't get the memo and you didn't provide any insight. Public-ed is filled with problems, how is it bad judgment to point it out?

Does not compute.

Making one poor decision (okay, a really, really, REALLY poor decision) doesn't mean that after twenty years of prison you are the same person and would continue to make the same stupid mistakes. Now, you may disagree with that, but in my line of work, I have to believe that people can change and people can improve, and I give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong. I am not even arguing here for the really democratic decision that my state made a couple hundred years ago: If you live here, you get to vote, even while you're in prison. No matter what. You have a voice. More judgmental folks would NEVER go for that.

 

[SuperDemocrat]

That is because they promise lower incarceration rates. Do you realize that in a close election these felon votes may make a difference. What is going to happen is that people trying to get these felon votes will promise more lenient punishments just like politicians promise not to deport illegal residents of this country.

 

[Seawytch]

What the VA Governor did only puts his state in line with the majority of states.


State approaches to felon disenfranchisement vary tremendously. In Maine and Vermont, felons never lose their right to vote, even while they are incarcerated. In Florida, Iowa and Virginia, felons and ex-felons permanently lose their right to vote. Virginia and Florida have supplementary programs which facilitate gubernatorial pardons. The remaining states each have their own approaches to the issue.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx#barriers

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

Rapists and murderers are voting today in the Maryland Primary.

I don't understand why Democrats feel that one of the rights they lost when they were convicted of a felony should be reinstated, but not all of them. Why don't they get their rights to own guns back too? Jesus, the damage criminals can do with the vote is much worse than what they can do with a gun.

Democrats have been busy behind the scenes on this issue since the Clinton Administration. As of March 10 Maryland felons got the right to vote as soon as they are released from prison. It appears this is why Obama has been letting out thousands of them all over the country. http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx

I'm waiting for the first liberal to call me an idiot for not knowing this was going on all along.

This is very wrong, I don't think prisoners should be able to vote.

 

[Iceweasel]

What isn't true? I didn't say anything about race and felons have used bad judgment and libs don't care. Point out the specific error.

I just don't agree with the "bad judgment" theory. That only felons have bad judgment? They're the only ones who have been caught. There is no judgment test prior to voting, and just because you and I haven't been arrested doesn't mean we have good judgment.

It isn't a theory. If they ended up in prison by their actions they used bad judgment. It's a fact. Holding the rest of us as possibly as wrong makes no sense.

My argument makes sense when you try to define "good judgment." You don't think I am using good jugment by usually having a liberal stance, and I don't think you are using good judgment when you slam public education. "Good judgment" is a very murky swamp to identify or measure, because it is so subjective. Anyway, there aren't heinous criminal felons running for office, so why are you opposed to felons chosing a leader? Leaders affect us all, including the lives of ex-cons.

My threshold for qualifying good judgment was rather low. It's keeping your ass out of prison.

I am not aware of heinous criminal running for office, I didn't get the memo and you didn't provide any insight. Public-ed is filled with problems, how is it bad judgment to point it out?

Does not compute.

Making one poor decision (okay, a really, really, REALLY poor decision) doesn't mean that after twenty years of prison you are the same person and would continue to make the same stupid mistakes. Now, you may disagree with that, but in my line of work, I have to believe that people can change and people can improve, and I give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong. I am not even arguing here for the really democratic decision that my state made a couple hundred years ago: If you live here, you get to vote, even while you're in prison. No matter what. You have a voice. More judgmental folks would NEVER go for that.

People can change but we either err on the side of caution or throw caution to the wind. I'm a conservative so I'm in the err on the side of caution camp.

 

[auditor0007]

Rapists and murderers are voting today in the Maryland Primary.

I don't understand why Democrats feel that one of the rights they lost when they were convicted of a felony should be reinstated, but not all of them. Why don't they get their rights to own guns back too? Jesus, the damage criminals can do with the vote is much worse than what they can do with a gun.

Democrats have been busy behind the scenes on this issue since the Clinton Administration. As of March 10 Maryland felons got the right to vote as soon as they are released from prison. It appears this is why Obama has been letting out thousands of them all over the country. http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx

I'm waiting for the first liberal to call me an idiot for not knowing this was going on all along.

I'm not sure exactly how the law reads, but they should have the right to vote once they have served their complete sentence. If they are given probation, I personally would think that they should not be able to vote until the term of their sentence is complete, but once that term is complete, they get the right to vote.