[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E40-E41]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF CIVIC PARTICIPATION AND REHABILITATION ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 8, 2003

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Civic 
Participation and Rehabilitation Act of 2003, along with additional 
cosponsors. At a time when our Nation faces record low voter 
participation, this legislation represents an historic means of both 
expanding voting rights while helping to reintegrate former felons into 
our democratic society.
  The practice of many states denying voting rights to former felons 
represents a vestige from a time when suffrage was denied to whole 
classes of our population based on race, gender, religion, national 
origin and property. Over the past two centuries, these restrictions, 
along with post-Civil War exclusions such as the poll tax and literacy 
requirements, have been eliminated. It is long past time that these 
restrictions be relegated to unenlightened history.
  Unfortunately, the United States continues to stand alone among the 
major industrialized nations in permitting an entire category of 
citizens, former felons, to be cut off from the democratic process. It 
is time that the United States restored these fundamental rights and 
join the community of nations in this regard.
  Denial of suffrage to these individuals is no small matter. A recent 
study by the Sentencing Project reveals that some 3.9 million 
Americans, or one in 50 adults have currently or permanently lost their 
voting rights as a result of a felony conviction. This includes an 
estimated 1.4 million African American men, or 13 percent of the total 
population of black adult men, a rate seven times the national average. 
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia prohibit inmates from 
voting while incarcerated for a federal offense; 32 states prohibit 
felons from voting while they are on parole and 28 of these states 
exclude felony probationers as well. In fact, in six states that deny 
the vote to ex-offenders, one in four black men are permanently 
disenfranchised. Hispanic citizens are also disproportionately 
disenfranchised.
  In addition to diminishing the legitimacy of our democratic process, 
denying voting rights to ex-offenders is inconsistent with the goal or 
rehabilitation. Instead of reintegrating such individuals into society, 
felony voting restrictions only serve to reaffirm their feelings of 
alienation and isolation. As the National Advisory Commission on 
Criminal Justice Standards and Goals has concluded, ``if correction is 
to reintegrate an offender into free society, the offender must retain 
all attributes of citizenship.'' The purpose of correctional facilities 
throughout our history have been to make an offender fit to re-enter 
society. We should honor this conviction that once a felon has served 
his/her time, the he/she is ready to be a functioning member of 
society. Voting then must be allowed, as the most basic constitutive 
act of citizenship.
  It is even more important for this legislation to pass when we look 
back at the 2000 election in Florida. In that election 400,000 ex-
felons were denied their right to vote. In an election where it came 
down to 537 voters, this is a decisive number. Instead of contracting 
the voting pool we should be expanding it so that our elected officials 
can more accurately resemble the wishes of the people. Our nation has 
slowly seen the enfranchisement of all of its citizens. Though it has 
been a slow process we have always moved forward, giving more and more 
citizens the right to vote. This bill is merely the next step in the 
expansion of the electorate. And it is a step we must take.

[[Page E41]]

  Many states are beginning to take the lead on this issue. Maryland, 
Connecticut, Delaware, and New Mexico have all scaled back voting bans 
on ex-felons who have paid the price for their crimes and now want to 
participate in the democratic process as citizens. The growing roster 
of states which allow ex-felons to vote is encouraging. We must help 
along the process by enacting this bill and taking this crucial step at 
the Federal level.
  The legislation we will introduce constitutes a narrowly crafted 
effort to expand voting rights for ex-felons, while protecting state 
prerogatives to generally establish voting qualifications. The 
legislation would only apply to persons who have been released from 
prison, and it would only apply to federal elections. As such, our bill 
is fully consistent with constitutional requirements established by the 
Supreme Court in a series of decisions upholding federal voting rights 
laws.
  The legislation has been supported by a broad coalition of groups 
interested in voting and civil rights, including the NAACP, ACLU, the 
National Council of Churches (National and Washington Office), the 
National Urban League, the Human Rights Watch and the Lawyers Committee 
for Civil Rights, among many others.

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