Testimony to Oregon’s House Rules Committee in Support of Universal Suffrage Act
The Sentencing Project offered expert testimony before Oregon’s House Rules Committee In support of House Bill 2366, a Universal Suffrage Act. HB 2366 repeals the prohibition on voting by individuals convicted of a felony and serving a court–ordered sentence of imprisonment for their conviction.
Related to: Voting Rights, State Advocacy
The Sentencing Project offered expert testimony before Oregon’s House Rules Committee In support of House Bill 2366, a Universal Suffrage Act. HB 2366 repeals the prohibition on voting by individuals convicted of a felony and serving a court–ordered sentence of imprisonment for their conviction. Felony disenfranchisement policies can be traced back to the founding of the United States; settler colonialists implemented the policy when they occupied North America. The nation was founded on a paradox, a supposed experiment in democracy that was limited to wealthy white male property owners and excluded women, African Americans, persons who could not read, poor people, and persons with felony convictions. Over the course of two hundred years all of those voting exclusions have been eliminated with the exception of people with felony convictions.
