
Florida passes Amendment Four, restoring voting rights to convicted felons - jbegley
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-passes-amendment-4-restoring-voting-rights-convicted-felons-020912594.html
======
moonka
Until recently I had just taken it for granted that it was what we do, but
after thinking about it, what's the rationale behind taking away the right to
vote when someone is convicted?

~~~
sublupo
Because democracy only works when the voters are good. If a large majority of
voters were Nazis then a Hitler would be elected. Similarly, I wouldn't want
people who are proven to do something criminal to influence who becomes my
leader.

~~~
Crye
> Because democracy only works when the voters are good. If a large majority
> of voters were Nazis then a Hitler would be elected. Similarly, I wouldn't
> want people who are proven to do something criminal to influence who becomes
> my leader.

Bringing up Nazis is a little more then ironic in this context. Considering
the Nazi's passed laws to remove citizenship and prevent voting for a large
portion of their population.

 _On September 15, 1935, at a party rally in Nuremberg, the Nazis announced
two new laws that changed who could be a German citizen. The Reich Citizenship
Law required that all citizens have German “blood.” As a result, Jews and
others lost their rights to citizenship, which not only stripped them of the
right to vote but also made them stateless. This meant that they could not get
a valid passport for travel between countries or acquire a visa to leave
Germany._

Allowing everyone to vote is fundamental to democracy.

------
toomuchtodo
This puts ~1.5 million voters back on the voter rolls in Florida. Will make
for an interesting election next time around!

