Today, The Sentencing Project releases a new study estimating that 5.2 million people will be barred from voting in the 2020 election due to a felony conviction. Locked Out 2020 updates and expands on research released in 2016 analyzing the scope of felony disenfranchisement, as well as the state-level distribution of laws that ban people with felony convictions from voting. The rate of felony disenfranchisement continues to be highest in southern states, where numerous voting restrictions were passed during the Jim Crow era, with the express purpose of limiting the political power of Black men. Today’s data reveal a similar race-based suppression of voting rights. For the first time ever, the new study includes estimates of the impact of felony disenfranchisement on the Latinx community, with 34 states disenfranchising Latinx adults more than the general population. Over the last 25 years, half of all states have reformed their laws and practices to expand voting access for people with felony convictions, but appalling remnants of the Jim Crow South remain. More than seven percent of the adult population in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee, remains unable to vote because of mistakes they made in the past. In Florida alone, over one million people can’t vote, despite recent reforms, because they have a felony record. Locked Out 2020: Estimates of People Denied Voting Rights Due to a Felony Conviction is co-authored by Christopher Uggen, Ryan Larson, Sarah Shannon, and Arleth Pulido-Nava. The full report is available here. |
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Sample Social Media Post: BREAKING: 5.2 million adults are barred from voting in this year's election due to previous felony convictions — including 1 in 16 Black Americans and over 560,000 Latinx Americans. @SentencingProj #LockedOut2020 #FreetheVote https://sent.pr/315tWkP |
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