Opinion: Tear Down Voting Rights Wall

A report released last week shows just how steep the hill is for people who have felony convictions to get their voting rights restored. The report, issued by the Campaign Legal Center and the Civil Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law, found a majority of states, 30 in all, condition a person’s voting rights on their ability to pay fines, fees or restitution that resulted from criminal convictions. The report says in 2016, an estimated 6 million people in the United States had been disenfranchised because of felony convictions while 10 million people owe more than $50 billion in fines and fees related to criminal convictions. 

Read the full opinion here.