ABSTRACT
While 12 states permanently deny the voting rights of persons with some felony convictions, all of these states have a process that could lead to the restoration of voting rights. Unfortunately, while there is a substantial amount of research on felony disenfranchisement, this scholarship does not help us understand re-enfranchisement processes and requirements, and the implications of those processes. In this chapter, we shed light on the politics of restoring voting rights after incarceration in two states, Iowa and Virginia, the process and requirements that lead to re-enfranchisement, and why these processes and requirements are deemed “necessary” for re-enfranchisement. This chapter on re-enfranchisement is an important aspect of prisoner reentry and is a salient topic in the ongoing discourses around social justice.
