On Tuesday Attorney General Eric Holder called on states to repeal laws restricting voting rights for formerly incarcerated individuals. “It is time to fundamentally rethink laws that permanently disenfranchise people who are no longer under federal or state supervision,” Holder stated in his speech at the Georgetown University Law Center. Currently, eleven states have laws restricting voting rights prohibiting nearly 6 million individuals from voting due to former felony convictions.
Holder made the case for reinstating voting rights to individuals who have completed their sentence. Calling the current bans “counterproductive,” Holder drew parallels between current restrictions to post-Reconstruction era laws used to disenfranchise African-Americans. He also argued that “by perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.”
His statement on Tuesday is part of a larger effort of the Justice Department to address racial inequities and civil rights violations in the criminal justice system. Earlier this year Holder urged Congress to pass reforms on mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level drug defendants.