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__**14th Amendment:**__ US Constitution Revised

" No persons voting rights should be based on their conviction of felony if they are serving their debt to society."

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By: Naadir Ginyard There are many things that are starting to be debated when it comes to ones rights to vote. A popular topic is if convicted felons should be able to vote. This is a question that leans one way but there has been nothing done to change their voting rights. Convicted felons should be able to vote since they are paying their debt to society by being in prison.
 * Position Paper**

The right to vote is a serious dynamic and is a matter that definitely needs to be looked at through a new lens. Voting rights is essentially a person’s dignity and opinion and convicts voices should be heard. Convicted felons do not want to be treated fairly but want to have equal rights, as every US citizen should. In prison they are treated fairly because they have done something to hurt society and still are treated, as a human being should be. Even though they are in prison they are clothed have an adequate bathing place and are fed. As a US citizen voting is their right after all they are paying their debt to society.

There should be no reason why convicted felons cannot vote. Convicted felons should be able to vote since they are paying their debt to society by being in prison. Though most of the felons are convicted of the right crime there are some who are wrongly convicted. There have been people in prison that were wrongly convicted and when they finally were out of prison had missed out on many elections. Does that seem fair? Exactly it does not seem fair to any extent. If put into those persons shoes it would not cope with you well. The only exception to this voting regulation should be people serving a life sentence. They have no chances on getting out so their vote will never directly impact their life. Many people are discriminated against when speaking about voting rights. Specifically convicted felons who have no right to vote until they are released from prison. The topic that presents the most controversy being is about convicted felons and it raises the question “should convicted felons be able to vote?” They argument is so deep because you have to realize here are quite a few people who are wrongly convicted and do not have access to rights they deserve. Convicted felons should be able to vote since they are paying their debt to society by being in prison.

By: Ayanna Jones-McCant Why shouldn’t convicts be allowed to vote? Why are you taking away their voting rights after the have already served their debt to society? Those are some of the question that are being asked against why convicts should vote. But the real question is this “ Why should they?” Some convicts have their voting rights taken away for a purpose. “ But haven’t they served their debt to society already?” Yes, they have but the majority of them have been in prison multiple times. Some convicts have committed murder. Some convicts have been out in jail for reason regarding a political candidate. In the paper below the will be reason and explanations stated as to why a convict should have their voting rights removed.
 * “Rebuttal Paper**”

In jail there are convicts who have been in there for many years, and of many different accounts. There are some convicts who are in jail for murder. These men and some women were out there killing people for reason in which they only know. Some are in just by just being active participants. Should people who are out there killing other people be allowed to vote? What happens when you let them go and they hurt someone for voting for the opposing side? Should they serve their debt and then give them their voting rights all over again? Convicts who are on death row, should they be allowed to vote again? No, some convicts have been given multiple chances and still haven’t proved that they deserve the right to vote.

You have convicts that did commit crimes and some who were wrongly convicted. The ones who were wrongly convicted of a crime should be able to vote but why were they wrongly convicted? Some of those questions still haven’t been answered to this day. Could there have been a case of mistaken identity? Yes, but mistaken identity could go either way. You have cases when someone has been mistaken for someone they weren’t and you have cases where someone gave the wrong identity of who they were. Them giving a false identity they are putting the life of someone else in danger and possibly getting some of their rights removed from them. Should we allow that to happen and say ok here go all of your rights? Or should the government put their foot down and say no?

Out in this world you have all types of convicts. Since the right we are talking about taking away is voting lets jump over to the political topic. Voting is a privilege and an honor. There are people who think they can threaten the life of a politician and think they can get away by doing their time and get all of their privileges back. They served their time but how do we know if they won’t try it again once they get out? There are people who have trashed voting stations. How do we know if we give them the right to vote they won’t go out and trash another voting station? We don’t know! Should the government give them their privilege of voting when they put the life of candidates in danger? Should the government put the life of candidates and civilians in danger because of the actions of someone else?

Don’t give convicts back their right of voting when they took it away from themselves!

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