Voting with a Criminal Record: How Registrations Frustrate Democracy

By Nicole Kief

The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy. For many Americans, the primary source of information about voter eligibility is the voter registration form. Consequently, the availability of clear, accurate registration forms is critical to ensuring this fundamental right. For the 47 million Americans with criminal records,1 however, it may be risky to rely on voter registration forms to determine whether they may register to vote.The findings that follow reveal that the vast majority of U.S. states—33 plus the District of Columbia—currently use registration forms that provide inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information about whether individuals with criminal records are eligible to vote. The back-story to this problem is the patchwork of state disfranchisement laws that prevent over 5.3 million Americans with criminal records from voting. In 48 states (all but Maine and Vermont) and in the District of Columbia, citizens lose the right to vote upon conviction of a felony; in at least a handful of states, the right is also lost upon conviction of a misdemeanor. All 48 states (and the District of Columbia) also provide mechanisms by which these citizens may seek to regain their voting rights, though some processes are much more viable than others. These mechanisms range from automatic restoration (upon completion of incarceration or sentence) to restoration only after satisfaction of an extensive, onerous and sometimes costly individual application process.

New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 2008. 22p,.