Yahoo Autos Republicans and majority of Democrats vote to keep incarcerated people from participating in elections
Progressive Democrats introduced a measure Tuesday to give incarcerated people the right to vote.
The amendment, to major voting rights legislation, failed by a 93-278 vote.
It received no Republican support. A majority of Democrats also voted against it.
"America does not love all its people," Rep. Cori Bush, a progressive Democrat from Missouri, argued on the floor of the House, saying that more than 5 million Americans are prevented from taking part in an election because they are currently incarcerated.
On Tuesday, Bush and Rep. Mondaire Jones, a New York Democrat, offered an amendment to sweeping voting rights legislation, HR 1. The legislation, as written, would already restore that right for those with felony convictions, but not for those who are now behind bars - one in six of whom are Black.
"This cannot continue," Bush said. "Disenfranchising our own citizens is not justice."
The amendment failed. No Republican supported the amendment, and most Democrats opposed it too, leading it to be put down by a vote of 97 to 328.
As it stands, only two states, Maine and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia never take away the right to vote, even when someone is incarcerated. But, per the National Conference of State Legislatures, 30 states disenfranchise anyone with a felony conviction, even after they have served their prison sentence. And while voting rights are sometimes restored later, there are often additional obstacles.
