Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumAOC Backed Up Bernie Sanders on Voting Rights for People With Felony Convictions
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is back on Twitter with a thread about why incarcerated people shouldnt be denied the right to vote. Jumping off a TV town hall comment by 2020 presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), AOC broke down why being imprisoned shouldnt mean losing your voice in democracy.
(snip)
"Instead of asking, Should the Boston Bomber have the right to vote? Try, Should a nonviolent person stopped w/ a dime bag LOSE the right to vote? Ocasio-Cortez wrote. [Because] that question reflects WAY more people.
Tying the denial of voting rights to slavery, Jim Crow laws, the War on Drugs, and mass incarceration, the congresswoman from the Bronx made the case that denying voting rights to convicted felons intersects with how people of color are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system: The result is that the black and brown people the criminal justice system seemingly targets are losing their voting rights behind bars.
(snip)
ProCon.org, a nonprofit that researches controversial issues, found that in 2016, an estimated 6.1 million people with felony convictions in the U.S. could not vote approximately 2.5% of the voting population (excluding Washington, D.C.). Because of African-Americanss disproportionate representation in prison populations in the U.S., in 2016 7.44% of them could not vote due to felony convictions. In some states, the percentages are higher; 26.15% of Kentuckys black population couldnt vote in 2016 for this reason. The same year, 10.43% of all Florida voting-age residents couldnt vote because of a felony record.
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https://www.teenvogue.com/story/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-aoc-bernie-sanders-voting-rights-felony-convictions
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Shortly after 2 am on 6 April 2010, a guard at Salinas Valley state prison noticed Alan Agers cellmate trying to stuff something under a mattress. It was Ager, blood trickling from his mouth and a cloth noose tied around his neck.
The convicted child molester died 10 days later without regaining consciousness, his death earning his cellmate a second life sentence.
California state prisoners are killed at a rate that is double the national average and sex offenders like Ager account for a disproportionate number of victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of corrections records.
Male sex offenders made up about 15% of the prison population but accounted for nearly 30 percent of homicide victims, the AP found in cataloging all 78 killings that corrections officials reported since 2007, when they started releasing slain inmates identities and crimes.
(snip)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/16/sex-offenders-killed-higher-rate-california-prison
If you don't why is that?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cuthbert Allgood
(4,965 posts)Should we just stop anyone we don't like from voting even if they aren't in prison? I fucking hate the God Hates Fags family. Can we keep them from voting?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
onit2day
(1,201 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Because that's what this law really does, and what it's meant to do.
Vote suppression.
OK, I get it, you're for civil rights, except when it becomes politically inconvenient.
WAY TO SHOW YOUR PRINCIPLES!!!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
comradebillyboy
(10,175 posts)it's still a losing campaign issue. What's the logic of running on an issue a large majority of Americans oppose? It's a great way to keep the republicans in power.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
onit2day
(1,201 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
comradebillyboy
(10,175 posts)Besides you need 50 state legislatures and governors to actually make it happen.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
still_one
(92,395 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cuthbert Allgood
(4,965 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
peggysue2
(10,839 posts)Period, full stop. And it doesn't matter who puts their signature on it.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BlueFlorida
(1,532 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)Or perhaps run them by a communications staffer who can research them before she hits that button.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-deletes-tweet-that-mistakenly-identified-fellow-democrat-as-one-of-gops-older-male-members/2019/04/25/703f095c-6789-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
murielm99
(30,761 posts)She is digging her own grave with those tweets.
Let them keep going over and over the idea about incarcerated people voting. It is a losing issue. Let the two of them lose.
Has AOC opened all her offices in her district yet? As of about a week ago, she had not. She was gallivanting and not answering questions for her constituents. Is that still true?
Our democracy is on life support. We need strong people who can address the most pressing issues.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
onit2day
(1,201 posts)They are not "running" on this issue. It was a response to questions and a belief in people's rights. No one is focused solely on this issue. All candidates are bound to support issues you might disagree with but it's not a purity contest. Just something the media can create drama with. The Green New Deal is a continuation and expansion of FDR's new deal and contains....oh wait, I wanna talk about the right of prisoners to vote. #Not Me
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Little Star
(17,055 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
loves_da_dems
(67 posts)It's just another form of racist voter suppression. If she's for it, I'm for it. How I wish she could run.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided