The annual Bridge Crossing re-enactment will take place in Selma starting on March 6th. The relatively new issue of restoring voting rights lost through felony convictions, and restoring the restrictions on (mostly) Southern States thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court threw out last year. It required those states to get approval from teh U.S. Justice Department before changing voting laws and procedures.
In some ways, the issue of voting rights is as current today as it was when Alabama State Troopers attacked marchers on the Edmund Pettis Bridge.
The PEW folks have generated a map showing the percentage of voters disenfranchised because the state takes away the right to vote for convicted felons. For Alabama, it shows 7.2% of the voting age population.
It is probably not a coincidence that there is a cluster of Old South States with higher rates. African-Americans tend to vote Democratic, so the more arrests, the more disenfranchised voters.
The Obama Administration has been pressuring states to restore those voting rights after a prison sentence has been served.
In some ways, the issue of voting rights is as current today as it was when Alabama State Troopers attacked marchers on the Edmund Pettis Bridge.
The PEW folks have generated a map showing the percentage of voters disenfranchised because the state takes away the right to vote for convicted felons. For Alabama, it shows 7.2% of the voting age population.
It is probably not a coincidence that there is a cluster of Old South States with higher rates. African-Americans tend to vote Democratic, so the more arrests, the more disenfranchised voters.
The Obama Administration has been pressuring states to restore those voting rights after a prison sentence has been served.
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