Voting Rights for Former Felons

Maryland was one of 11 states that banned anyone convicted of a felony from voting ever again, even after he or she completed his sentence. I'm happy that Gov. Martin O'Malley removed this ban when he signed the Voting Registration Protection Act.

Lifetime voting bans against former felons are one of the most backwards, punitive measures I can think of. We need to reintroduce former criminals into society, not shut them out more. This is silly that I have to say this, but once you serve your punishment, you should stop being punished.

These bans are difficult to overturn because as a constituent group, former felons have little influence. They are a politically-risky group to fight for, and what are they going to do, threaten to vote a politician out of office?

I'm even in favor of felons being allowed to vote while they are still serving time. I don't see the harm in letting them do so, or the benefit of further disconnecting them from civic life. In our lust for punishment, I think we focus solely on "How can we hurt this person who hurt us?" and not consider what's best for society.

I'm not arguing we eschew punishment for those who commit crimes. My point is that that we should switch from being vindictive to selfish. How does Law X help us? Forget whether it harms or helps the inmate. What will help us, namely, what will prevent a former criminal from committing a crime again?

Usually, that means programs that reconnect and reintegrate prisoners into society: prison libraries, job training, voting, and similar programs. But some people are against these programs solely because these measures aren't vindictive. It reminds me of the old saying, "Cutting your nose off to spite your face." I don't get the origin of the saying--who said our face liked our nose to begin with? But it's a good point. Why harm someone if it ends up harming ourselves? Let's do what is best for us, and not care if that happens to mean helping prisoners too.