ABSTRACT
Felon disenfranchisement, or the loss of voting rights, is a collateral consequence of felony conviction. Such consequences are called "collateral" because they are "typically located outside the penal code, implemented by non-criminal justice institutions, and interpreted as civil regulations rather than criminal penalties". The United States disenfranchises more citizens post-incarceration than any other democratic country, and an estimated 5.85 million American citizens are prohibited from voting because of a felony conviction. The US founders and their enlightenment contemporaries argued that people are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights", therefore, arguments in support of felon disenfranchisement have approached the issue with the intent to limit the in-born right of self-government. There have been many challenges to felon disenfranchisement in US Courts, and scholars have proposed a number of strategies for challenging felon disenfranchisement in the future. Likewise, selective enforcement of disenfranchisement provisions could also be challenged under the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 and its 1982 revisions.
