PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, people convicted of a felony crime can get the right to vote restored. Most states have some type of restriction in place, preventing them from being able to vote.
A team of law experts out of Rutgers are challenging these voting laws, on a national scale.
According to the Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy center focusing on criminal justice issues, such voting restrictions are not new. They say early colonists limited voting rights with certain crimes.
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Hundreds of years later, these law experts are challenging why many U.S. citizens lose their constitutional right to vote when a felony is committed.
"I have spoken to many, many, many people who can't vote and they really feel like they're isolated, they don't belong, they have no impact," said Rutgers Law School Professor Penny Venetis, who is part of the group of faculty, students, and a law firm connected with Rutgers that filed a brief with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
"The right to vote is one of our most fundamental fights. This is how your voice is heard in our very vast and very diverse country. And really what we're finding because of the racial profiling and over-policing, at the end of the day, these laws have a disproportionate impacts on people of color."
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Venetis said that from that racial profiling and over-policing, "a disproportionate number of members of the Black and Latino communities are arrested, convicted, incarcerated, and then also are not permitted to vote."
She explained that the commission is considering the case, and will evaulate laws across the country.
From there, they will determine whether the U.S. is violating international obligations to protect the right to vote, regardless of your criminal record.
