Estimating the Impact of Kentucky's Felon Disenfranchisement Policy On 2008 Presidential and Senatorial Elections
Federal Probation › Vol. 73 Nbr. 1, June 2009
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Summary
[...] if not for felon disenfranchisement, Democratic senatorial candidates would likely have prevailed in Texas (1978), Kentucky (1984 and 1992), Florida (1988 and 2004), and Georgia (1992) (Manza & Uggen, 2006,p.l94). Since felon disenfranchisement affects the civil rights of nearly five million voters (over 2 percent of die eligible voters), critically evaluating its rationales remains a significant criminal justice policy issue (Manza 8c Uggen, 2004). [...] prisoner preferences may not provide a representative sample for a particular state, since prisoners are concentrated in particular locales that are often outside their domiciles.
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Estimating the Impact of Kentucky's Felon Disenfranchisement Policy On 2008 Presidential and Senatorial Elections
FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT, or the restriction of voting rights for convicted felons, is a staple of American criminal justice policy, practiced in one form or another in 48 of 50 American states. Nevertheless, the practice itself has become increasingly controversial in light of research suggesting disproportionate impacts on minorities and political parties. Disenfranchisement policy currendy excludes one in six AfricanAmerican males. For example, in the 1998 elections, at least 10 states formally disenfranchised 20 percent of African-American voters due to felony convictions (Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 1999). Excluding felons provided "a small but clear advantage to Republican candidates in every presidential and senatorial election from 1972 to 2000" (Manza & Uggen, 2006, p. 191). In addition, felon disenfranchisement may have changed the course of history by costing Al Gore the 2000 presidential election (Uggen 8c Manza, 2002). Similarly, if not for...
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