Also, seems kind of scary that this implies a future where so many people are in prison that their vote could actually tip the balance ?

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Not always, could be for drug possession, vandalism, identity theft, fraud, blackmail, obstruction of justice, and so on. There are a lot of nonviolent felonies that land you in the same pool as murderers and rapists.

    • Nix@merv.news
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      1 year ago

      The rationale is if you make a specific population you don’t like extremely likely to get felonies due to scenarios you place them in you can prevent millions of people from voting. It’s one of many ways the US creates second class citizens and cheap (basically free) labor. Wildfires in California are fought by people in prison, products are made by them too.

      The US loves cheap/free (slave) labor and removing the chance to vote and change these unjust laws benefits the oppressors much like preventing enslaved people from learning to read