who are in prison

Corporations are running more and more prisons, and if you don’t think they’d take measures subtle and otherwise to influence or force votes you trust a whole lot more than I do.

As for the private for profit prison industry, Bernie is for abolishing that 21st century version of slavery as well.

Link to tweet

Convicted felons don't, as long as they are serving their sentence.

We have the right to freedom of assembly, but convicted felons lose that right until they have served their sentence.

Freedom of speech is also restricted for incarcerated felons.

Rights can be restricted by courts of law, under specific circumstances, one of which is being incarcerated for a felony after due process.

I think convicted felons should be able to vote, as soon as they are out of prison.

People who are unjustly imprisoned for felonies should be able to contest their convictions through appeals and other means. If they succeed, all of their rights should be restored.

No one is arguing that prisoners should have the right to freedom of assembly.

Free of speech is restricted but not eliminated, prisoners do have the right to give voice regarding prison conditions, they also retain the right of freedom of religion, the right to vote is inherently tied to freedom of speech without the former, the latter means nothing.

People that are unjustly imprisoned may never find exoneration until decades after the fact or even after execution.

Eliminating any qualifier in regards to the right to vote strengthens voting rights for free Americans including dis-enfranchised former felons.

It's not a popular position, so that will help my favorite candidate quite a good deal.

Last edited Tue Apr 30, 2019, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)

high disapproval ratings has never stopped moral leaders from fighting against immoral policies that disenfranchises the weakest among us.

It didn't stop Martin Luther King and it isn't going to stop Bernie.

Nail those 99 theses on the door...

Peace to you MineralMan.

Just no.

It will be highlighted at a debate and Sanders pushing this is going to make our other candidates sound great. It makes no sense to push this as a stand alone issue. Keep beating the Drum, Sanders.

I’m not sure what you don’t get about my statement.

They are going to come out on top. Pushing this as a stand alone issue is foolish, at best. Something like this must be a part of a larger reform package and done in the background. As it stands, it’s nothing but pandering to a very small group. I’m not the only one who believes all incarcerated persons should be able to vote and that Sanders isn’t helping.

Let me make it clear what the Amendment King is good at. Letting other people do the hard work of comprehensive reform and then getting something like this slid in as an amendment. He isn’t leading on this. He is small-ball campaigning with an amendment mindset. I hope he is successful at accomplishing this as a goal when the “establishment” puts forward and passes comprehensive criminal justice reform.

Please keep pushing this. It’s helping the Democratic coalition. Or as Sanders likes to call it, the establishment.

that Bernie is helping the Democratic coalition but you're asking him to stop?

I think you should as well.

Peace to you WeekiWater.

He would rather tilt at windmills than do the hard work of getting legislation passed. His 'policies' never get past the slogan phase.

thought into as far as real world implementation. I wish he'd stop doubling/tripling down on this. We have so many other things to worry about right now.

why would it be so difficult?

Sixteen other democratic nations allow their prisoners to vote.

https://www.newsweek.com/which-countries-felons-vote-1405142

They can dam well vote when they get out of prison.
You should care soooooooooooooooo much about MY ability to vote .... not someone who slaughtered kids in schools. I'm sorry but in this case it is ME and people who aren't in jail who are voting people. People in jail .... do they even see candidates who are running for office. Do they get voters info etc

Berrnie needs to think this though before he spounts off aBOUT IT.

in terms of what i ask my candidate right now. i care more about health insurance, climate change, jobs, infrastructure, world peace, and WHAT WILL HELP PEOPLE .... NOT whether (violent offenders) a person in jail for slaughtering innocent people gets to vote or not.

What if they were non-violent?

When people are temporarily away from home, say in the service, working abroad or just on a vacation trip they can, across the country use an absentee ballot to vote. No muss, no fuss. Prisoners can get mail and send letters. No biggie.

Can we really trust a private, GOP sponsored prison to collect absentee ballots?

That's how I feel as well. I think Bernie thinks this "prison voting rights" thing will get him more black votes, which is not only patronizing, but another huge miscalculation. My biggest concern with regard to our justice system isn't centered around prison, it's centered around my freedom. I want to be free to move about without being attacked or murdered by rogue police officers in my own home or in my car or anywhere else. Reforming and eliminating the unfairness in our criminal justice system is extremely important to me, but that doesn't mean that my life revolves around drugs, crime, jail and/or prison. It's disappointing that he continues to view everyone other than "working whites" as one dimensional stereotypes.

The irony is that my top issue is voting rights within the context of what's legally allowed right now. It would be nice and quite helpful if Bernie would say 1 or two words about the millions of people across the country who have a legal right to vote but have been kept from doing so due to voter purges and other dirty tricks. Just look at what happened in Georgia last fall. Focus on that, Bernie!

The NC absentee ballot collector didn't need to use a private prison to do his thing. Could be he won't be voting when he gets to prison. That said, sometimes these crimes are found out and solved. If a Privately run prison (and in my mind there should not be privately run prisons) keeps the mail from their charges, I would imagine that would be found out pretty quickly.

That Bernie speaks out for the oppressed, including those in prison, rightly or wrongly, tells me he will not afraid to push his agenda for economic equally and social justice. Whether or not the country is ready for real change, I am and I hope Bernie gets a chance to show us the way from inside the White house.

Here's a quick search for Bernie saying "1 or two words about the millions of people across the country who have a legal right to vote but have been kept from doing so due to voter purges and other dirty tricks."

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=bernie+sanders+talks+about+voter+suppression

1st, 2nd, and 4th amendment rights don't apply in prison. Why should voting be a protected right while the others are not?

both 1st Amendment.

Voting is inherently tied to freedom of speech, without the former, the latter would be meaningless.

Until then -no. It’s a losing issue for Dems.

I'd rather have our candidates be leaders with good ideas and the ability to move the country towards greater justice and economic equality. Sanders has championed great Democratic ideas, many from the days of FDR and he has moved the party and country in the right direction. Sure it has left some behind, but those people have idiots like Trump to vote for. Meanwhile those looking to solve our nation's problems can look to progressives like Sanders, Warren and Harris to lead them with new thinking.

Milk toast platitudes about the virtues of returning to the status quo is not going to stimulate people to show up and vote.