Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) recent endorsement of giving voting rights to all American citizens who are currently in prison for local, state, and federal crimes would allow some 183,000 convicted murderers and 164,000 convicted rapists to vote from their jail cells.
In a CNN town hall this week, Sanders endorsed allowing all convicted U.S. citizens — regardless of their crime — to vote from prison.
“So, I believe people who commit crimes, they pay the price and they get out of jail, they certainly should have the right to vote,” Sanders said. “But, I believe even if they are in jail, they’re paying the price to society, but that should not take away their inherent American right to participate in our democracy.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), also running for the Democrat nomination for president, hinted that she would be open to such a plan, saying “I think we should have that conversation” when asked about allowing convicted criminals to vote from their cells.
The latest data compiled by the Prison Policy Initiative concludes that there are more than 1.6 million convicted criminals in local, state, and federal prisons across the country. This includes about 183,000 convicted murderers and 164,000 convicted rapists.
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