Resource: New Web Site Provides In-Depth Pro and Con Information on Felon Voting Issue

Many DRCNet readers are familiar with the web site MedicalMarijuanaProCon.org, an in-depth examination of the medical marijuana issue that features authorities from both sides of the issue addressing a myriad of relevant questions about it. This week the parent organization, ProCon.org, launched FelonVotingProCon.org, exploring the issue of felony disenfranchisement featuring comprehensive comments from over 80 pro and con politicians, scholars, judges, activists and other experts.

FelonVotingProCon.org is launched on the heels of Florida and Maryland making historic changes to their felon voting laws. Disenfranchised felon populations (an estimated 5.26 million people in 2004 who may not vote due to criminal convictions) may be large enough to sway close elections, if those individuals had the legal ability to vote. With the 2008 national election only twenty months away, felon voting laws, which vary from state to state (from lifetime voting bans to no restrictions at all, not even while in prison in Maine and Vermont), are under scrutiny.

Among FelonVotingProCon.org's diverse sources are former US Senator George Allen and MSNBC newsman Tucker Carlson on the CON felon voting side to former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the American Civil Liberties Union on the PRO felon voting side.

The 150 pro, con, and general reference statements focus around the core question: Should felons be allowed to vote? Some featured content areas include:

• One-Minute Overview (including why this topic was selected)
• Top 10 Pros and Cons on Felon Voting
• State-by-State Laws on Felon Voting
• Breakdown of Disenfranchised Populations by Type of Crime Committed
• Comparison of US Felon Voting Laws to 44 Other Countries

ProCon.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation whose purpose is to inform the public about controversial issues using facts, news, and hundreds of diverse opinions in a pro-con format. Prior pro-con topics include medical marijuana, the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, electronic voting machines, euthanasia, and others. Upcoming pro-con topics in 2007 (and their launch dates) include prostitution (5/15), milk (9/17), 2008 presidential candidates (10/22), and immigration (11/1).