"Obama's Felon Disenfranchisement Challenge"
Dan Filler comments on Faculty Lounge about this Washington Post story: The reality is that Obama, like all Democrats, is likely to benefit when convicted offenders are allowed to vote. At the same time, one thing Obama cannot afford is to be seen as a person seeking the felon vote - both because being a friend of criminals is bad political karma and because, in Obama s particular racialized position, this could have the effect of making him look like he s the candidate of Black criminals. This is a complicated position for Democrats. And it s going to get much more complicated as the election approaches.
If past elections are any guide, we can expect Republican election officials to work aggressively to weed out convicted felons from voting rolls. Sometimes - maybe even often - this effort will result in fully eligible voters being expunged from the rolls. Eligible voters will come in different types, most commonly those where there is a name mix-up and those who are convicted felons, but have - for one reason or another - regained the right to vote. But the very act of fighting for the rights of those entitled to vote who have been erroneously disenfranchised a much less politically charged project than Mitchell s work in Florida will trigger many of the complicated issues I ve discussed above. And the very fact that Obama may find it difficult to aggressively advocate for those entitled to vote may embolden Republicans to choose an extra-aggressive expungement strategy.
The Democrats cannot afford to abandon any of these prospective voters. And the Republicans may feel that they cannot afford to underenforce felon disenfranchisement laws - particularly in swing states - since these voters are likely to tilt to the left. But there are risks for everyone - including Republicans, who must worry that expungement strategies will be seen as explicitly designed to suppress African American vote numbers.
Keep your eyes open. I d be very surprised if this issue doesn t rear it s head, perhaps with some intensity, in the weeks before the election. -- The Faculty Lounge: Obama s Felon Disenfranchisement Challenge