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this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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I would immediately vote for this if they managed to get it on as a ballot initiative. Voting in a democracy is a right, not a privilege.
So, I think it's okay to, with limits, curtail rights for actively incarcerated persons. That's sorta what incarceration is.
I don't think we should restrict their right to vote, but I don't think it's immoral. It doesn't further any of the objectives of imprisonment, and it works against any of the non-cruel ones.
Ignoring that incarceration is, at best, grossly overused.
The thing is that restricting the right to vote opens the door for incarcerating segments of the population to suppress votes.
The Nixon administration did it when they made marijuana and cocaine schedule 1 (they literally admitted it was so they could charge black people and hippies with felonies).
Oh, I would agree. We shouldn't selectively enforce the law or shape the law to target specific groups. We shouldn't deny people the right to vote.
I just think it's a question of policy, not ethics.
The argument that the incarcerated should be able to vote because voting is a right is weak because they're already being stripped of rights as punishment following due process. "If we're denying you the right to be in the community, why would we let you keep the right to have a say in our community?".
Instead, it's better to focus on encouraging the incarcerated to be more constructively engaged in the community, which voting is one part of when coupled with civic awareness.
They're not denied the right to be a part of the community, they're merely restricted from moving freely within it. They still have social connections, family, and possessions. Most will eventually be released and regain their freedom, and when that happens they'll be living under laws passed during their incarceration.
Beyond that, democracy isn't just a policy choice, it is a system inherently based on the ethics of governance. You can't separate it out, because the foundation is that people have a right to contribute to the decisions that impact their lives. That's an ethical stance.
A right and a mandatory part of being in a society.