When one door is closed, try another. That was the strategy of plaintiffs trying to get the federal courts to overturn Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban for most felons.
So far, the strategy has worked.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed by a vote of 2-1 that the lifetime ban constituted cruel and unusual punishment, and was thus unconstitutional.
Whether that ruling will stand, though, is uncertain. Attorney General Lynn Fitch, representing the state, is expected to appeal the panel’s decision to the full 5th Circuit Court, and if the state loses there, presumably to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Both bodies are dominated by conservatives who frowned a year ago on a separate argument — namely, that the lifetime ban was unconstitutional because of its racially discriminatory origins and disproportionate impact on African Americans.
No matter how this legal fight plays out, though, the plaintiffs are right in what they are trying to achieve: namely, to restore the right to vote automatically to those who have completed their criminal sentence.
There are several reasons why people are punished — whether by jail time, house arrest or financial penalty — when they commit a serious crime. One is to immediately protect society from more such wrongdoing. Another is to compensate those who have been wronged. Yet another, and perhaps the most important, is to try to reform the offenders so they will become law-abiding, responsible, contributing members of society.
Restoring their right to vote should be part of re-engaging them into society and making them feel as if they have a stake in following its laws and norms.
Mississippi, though, has been behind the times in this regard. It continues to make it hard for felons to have their voting rights restored, throwing them at the mercy of gubernatorial pardons or of a supermajority of legislators agreeing to do so one felon at a time. During the 2023 legislative session, according to The Associated Press, not a single felon had his or her voting rights restored by legislative action.
Is that cruel and unusual punishment? Maybe not. But it certainly is bad policy.
People who mess up but pay for their mistakes should be given a second chance. A part of that redemption for felons means giving them access again to the ballot box so they can participate in our democracy.
