The author’s intent is to clear up misconceptions about Indiana’s voting rights for those with felony convictions.  In doing so the article actually reinforces some common misconceptions.  In discussing a felon’s right to vote the author implies that the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution somehow apply.  The US Constitution is actually silent on this category of voter disqualification. The US Constitution doesn’t apply here.  Secondly, the article doesn’t make clear  what the Indiana Constitution actually says, which is, “The General Assembly shall have power to deprive of the right of suffrage, and to render ineligible, any person convicted of an infamous crime.”  Instead, readers are told that, “Indiana law restores a person’s right to vote after he or she is no longer incarcerated.”  This may be so, but this isn’t a state constitutional guarantee.  The people of Indianarely on the beneficence of their legislature in granting that privilege.  Nevertheless, the article below reflects the widespread misconceptions about our voting rights.  At some point America should address the larger question of why anyone not actually under state control in a prison should be denied a right to vote.

Felons’ voting rights restored
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120406/EDIT05/304069992/1021/edit
Gilbert Holmes

Recently, I took it upon myself to conduct an unscientific poll.

I’ve asked colleagues, political activists and friends whether a Hoosier convicted of a felony can vote.

Most said no, and others were uncertain.

That tells me that it’s likely that the majority of Hoosiers are under the impression that if you’ve committed a felony, when it comes to voting it’s one strike and you’re out.

That mistaken impression has led to thousands of disenfranchised voters in Indiana who think that because they’ve been incarcerated, they can no longer take advantage of the voting rights guaranteed them by the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.

This de facto voter disenfranchisement ripples across generations and communities, creating entire classes of people who don’t exercise their right to vote.

Indiana law restores a person’s right to vote after he or she is no longer incarcerated.

One reason it’s so common to think that former felons are permanently barred from voting is that 35 states have stricter voting restrictions than Indiana for felons, and in 13 of those states, a felon can permanently lose the right to vote.

But in Indiana, the loss of suffrage applies only during the actual time of incarceration.

Why should you care? People who vote are more likely to volunteer, give to charities and attend school board meetings.

Former felons who vote are less likely to be rearrested, because voting helps people connect and become part of something positive.

The disproportionate number of blacks affected by voter disenfranchisement, more than 1.5 million across the nation, is an even more stunning number when you consider that one in every 15 black men age 18 and older is incarcerated, and the zero-tolerance policies in our schools have created a pipeline straight to prison for many black teenage dropouts in our communities.

When such a large portion of the community is locked in the criminal justice system, you can be sure their interests are not represented either at the polls or in the halls of power.

If you’re a felon, and you’re no longer incarcerated, you have the right to vote.

If you’re on probation, or on parole, you have the right to vote. If you’re placed in a community corrections program, or subject to home detention, under Indiana

law, you still have the right to vote. Voting is a constitutional right, and it’s one all Hoosiers should be proud to exercise.