Losing the Vote

The expansion of suffrage to all sectors of the population is one of the United States' most important political triumphs. Today, all mentally competent adults have the right to vote with only one exception: convicted criminal offenders .The racial impact of disenfranchisement laws is particularly egregious. If current trends continue, the rate of disenfranchisement for black men could reach 40 percent in the states that disenfranchise ex-offenders.