America has a long history of depriving entire groups of people the right to vote. Before the Civil Rights Act, black citizens were ridiculed, threatened with lynching, and even given a disposable paper ballot when they expressed interest in making their voices heard.
With a candidate such as Barack Obama running for president in this election, one would think we’ve come a long way. But some argue that the new target of government-sanctioned discrimination is the growing class of convicted felons who have served their time and paid their fees, but still can’t vote.
The Sentencing Project reports that an estimated 5.3 million Americans—1.4 million of whom are black men—are denied the right to vote because of felony convictions. Of these, 2.1 million are ex-offenders who have fully completed their sentences and probations.
Nowhere is this problem more evident than in the state of Florida, which was the center of controversy during the 2000 election.
