Disenfranchisement News

Kentucky: Study Addresses Felon Voting Rights Fears

A recently released study challenges theories and political fears that re-enfranchising individuals with felony offenses would dramatically impact the outcome of political elections. According to a study released by Gennaro F. Vito, J. Eagle Shutt and Richard Tewksbury of the University of Louisville Department of Justice Administration, full participation by disenfranchised individuals would not have altered the outcome of the November 2008 senatorial and presidential election in Kentucky. The study polled the voting preferences of disenfranchised voters who were on probation and parole in the state.

“Although felon disenfranchisees would likely favor Democratic candidates more than the Kentucky official voting results indicate, this difference had no effect upon the winners of the final voting tally. Republicans McCain and McConnell would still have carried the state in 2008. Clearly, political concerns about disenfranchisees having significant, sizable effects on election outcomes are unfounded …Therefore, there is no legitimate reason to continue to deny the vote to this population.”

The report, which is featured in the recent edition of Federal Probation journal, contends that individuals who have completed their sentence “remain disadvantaged and carry less than complete rights of citizenship.”