The Importance Of Voting In America

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America has built a great democracy that many admire and copy throughout the world. Yet, the foundation of any democracy is voting. In America, almost everyone over the age of 18 has the right to vote. Anyone convicted of a crime or felony, no matter his or her age, does not share in this right. People convicted of felonies should have the right to vote.
Many people may argue, “People convicted of a crime are not trustworthy enough to have the right vote.” What does trustworthiness have to do with someone’s right to vote? We let ex-convicts marry, reproduce, drive cars, buy property. We trust them to raise children, but not to vote? The argument that we can’t trust a felon’s judgment to vote has no correlation with voting and the ideals of democracy. After serving their time, felons deserve their rights to vote again.
There needs to be a federal reform. Each state has different felon voting laws and often these laws are confusing and different state to state. In Alabama, 30% of the population is unable to vote because they have convicted a felony. This means 30% of the population has of one of their “guaranteed rights” stripped away from them. Now in Texas, felons have the right to vote after their sentence or probation
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With stories fueling the fire such as white cop shoots unarmed black men. Protest groups like the Black Lives Matter and many others are chiming their voices in too. Yet, ex-convicts not being allowed to vote are also creating a racial divide. For a nation torn under racial divide, is taking away peoples right to vote, right? No. Giving felons the right to vote could fix help fix this issue, because they don’t have the right it creates an issue. Felons’ not having the right to vote was originally made to disenfranchise black men. This dates back to the Jim Crow Laws. Times are changing and the country is more diverse. It’s time to change and give felons their long deserved