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California Governor Allows Felons to Vote from Prison

<p>This Wednesday&comma; California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill allowing felons awaiting release to vote from their prison cells &ndash&semi; a move that he claims will ease their transition back into normal society&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bill will allow thousands of felons to vote in California&rsquo&semi;s elections&comma; and opponents worry that these votes could impact the outcome of a close race&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Backers like Daniel Zingale&comma; Senior VP of The California Endowment Helath Foundation&comma; argue that mass disenfranchisement must come to an end&comma; and denying felons the right to vote &ldquo&semi;is a tragic legacy of the Jim Crow era that disproportionately affects and diminishes the power of communities of color&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What Zingale seems to be missing here is that not all California felons are black&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;It is very disappointing that felons still serving their sentences behind bars will now be able to vote since Governor Brown failed to veto this really bad bill&comma;&rdquo&semi; laments California Senator Patricia Bates&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As we wrote in April&comma; Governor Terry McAuliffe has engaged in a similar effort to restore voting rights to criminals in Virginia&period;&nbsp&semi;McAuliffe&comma; a close friend of Hillary Clinton&comma; plans to restore voting rights to nearly 200&comma;000 former felons just in time to register for the November elections&period; In his last move&comma; he personally restored voting rights to 13&comma;000 criminals&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Congressional Democrats have followed suit with a bill that will give criminals back their voting rights upon release from prison&comma; and Senator Rand Paul &lpar;R-KY&rpar; is pushing to restore voting rights to non-violent offenders&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;It would be transformative if everybody &lbrack;in the nation&rsqb; voted&comma;&rdquo&semi; said President Obama&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Sure&comma; transformative in handing Hillary the throne&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Author&&num;8217&semi;s Note&colon;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong>The logic behind why felons are not allowed to vote is sketchy&colon; on the one hand&comma; it seems a crime to deny a constitutional right to an American citizen&semi; on the other hand&comma; a felon has clearly shown bad faith with the nation and should not get a voice in elections&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nonetheless&comma; Governor Brown should be ashamed of himself for pushing such a blatantly partisan bill&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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