“5.85 million people people have been disenfranchised since the year 2012” (Mauer). These people are felons and have broke the law once and will more than likely do it again. A felon is anyone who has been incarcerated or released from incarceration whether paying their dues or not and whether their crime was murder or stealing. Should the state continue to restrict these people even after they pay their dues? If they couldn't make the right choice for themselves, why should they be trusted for making the decision of who runs our country.

After committing a crime, your rights as a citizen should diminish. You should lose your right to vote. Felons choose to commit a crime and break the law, therefore it proves they cannot make decisions for themselves. Most felons do not think clearly explaining their actions in crimes, allowing them to vote gives them more choices that they most likely will not think thoroughly about. Another factor is the likelyhood of them revisiting criminal actions. “The recidivism rate-the rate at which felons commit another crime- is alarmingly high, more than 50% for many types of offenders” (Mauer).

The decision to let a felon vote should be decided by the state and only the state. The 14th amendment allows restriction, to anyone who has committed a crime, to vote. States should be given the option of banning certain rights of a felon due to their criminal actions. Today “17 state have either considered or are considering 60 bills involving voting right for people convicted of a crime” (Julian). As the President you need to have the states enforce more laws about voting as a felon. Allow the states to decide what is wrong or right but enforce that there be something done about the choices being made by people who have commiting a crime. Denying the right to vote, truly shows the convict the wrong they have done.

To keep the right to vote, is not a discriminatory action. It is simply taking rights from people who have disobeyed their rights and laws. “States show that these laws are non-discriminatory and apply to all races and socioeconomic backgrounds” (Krame). Denying the right to vote is not due to their race it is due to the lack of following the laws. They should not think of this as an action of prejudice distinction against them.

After felons prove to the state that they are worthy of voting, they should be allowed to regain this right. The worthiness should be determined by how many times a crime has been committed. The worthiness of a criminal should be determined by if they have paid their dues, after being released, on time. Their worthiness should be determined by the severity of their crime. “The states should have the right to decide when and under what conditions convicted felons deserve to regain their rights they lost as a result of their wrongdoing” (Mauer). Criminals made the wrong decision once and if they continue to make it they should be restricted. However, after a criminal has been free of crime and rightfully paid their dues then they should be given another chance as a citizen as the United States.

For felons the right to vote should not be taken away for their lives, unless they never stop their criminal actions. They should be able to regain it by correcting the wrong they originally did. But if they did create more criminal charges why would we want someone making decisions for us when they have been convicted of a felony?