Faulted System

The system that Mauer outlines in the chapter is full of inconsistencies. First, to disenfranchise a felon for life does not make sense especially when "99 percent of felons have not been convicted of electoral offenses." The worst part about this is that in some states electoral offenses are only misdemeanors. As a result, those who do get caught tampering with votes or the electoral process are not subject to disenfranchisement, yet someone convicted of a petty one time drug offense may not be able to vote for the remainder of their lives.

Often times, these felons' votes are valuable. The amount of felons who are unable to vote is so significant that Mauer claims "disenfranchisement policies have affected the outcome of seven U.S. senate races from 1970-1998." Assuming that the majority of these felons would have voted democratic, "disenfranchisement prevented Democratic control of the Senate from 1986 to 2000." I just think that this is kind of crazy to think about.