End racist voter suppression and restore the right to vote

California is on the verge of restoring the right to vote for people on parole, ending a practice that makes second-class citizens of people who have paid their debt to society. We must not miss this opportunity. The right to vote is a fundamental part of citizenship. Denying this right to people on parole excludes them from the democratic process. It is unjust, serves no legitimate purpose, and disproportionately impacts communities of color.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6, along with Assembly Bill 646, would restore voting rights to all people on parole in California, ending nearly 170 years of felony disenfranchisement in our state. Felony disenfranchisement is rooted in our nation's racist history, from slavery to Jim Crow to the Drug War. This shameful history continues to the present day: Black and brown Californians are dramatically overrepresented in our prisons and jails and on parole, and dramatically underrepresented at the polls. And despite the misleading claims of its proponents, felony disenfranchisement serves only one purpose: to suppress the vote of historically marginalized groups.

Voting is a core democratic right, essential to participation in our democracy. But in California, we have excluded an entire group of people from that process -- people who work, pay taxes, raise families and contribute to their communities. Parole is about reintegrating into society; emerging from the punishment and isolation of prison. Denying the right to vote to people on parole strips them of their full citizenship. It is also racist.

California's first constitution, in 1849, enshrined felony disenfranchisement while also denying the right to vote to anyone who wasn't a white man. As the country expanded the right to vote, California lagged behind, initially refusing to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment with its prohibition of race-based voting restrictions. As California reluctantly granted the right to vote to people of color, taking away voting rights from felons became a racist tool of disenfranchisement.

Three of four men leaving California prisons are people of color, and African-Americans are disenfranchised at nearly four times the rate of white Americans. These statistics compound the many other harms that are disproportionately endured by people of color in California, including higher rates of arrest and conviction, longer sentences, and more exposure to police violence. Denying the right to vote is egregious not just because it adds to the list of harms, but because it further impedes reentry and civic engagement at precisely the time when we are asking people to positively contribute as members of their communities.

There is no public safety benefit to felony disenfranchisement, or any criminal justice purpose. No victim is made whole by depriving the person who harmed them of the vote. Nobody decides not to commit a crime because they fear losing the right to vote. In fact, the opposite may be true. According to a study by the UC Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, "states which permanently disenfranchise ex-felons experience significantly higher repeat offense rates than states that do not." We have worked hard to reduce the collateral consequences that attend conviction of a crime, and we've done it with broad support and great results. Why has this collateral consequence, among the most severe, been ignored until now?

California should lead the nation on common sense criminal justice reforms. We often do. But when it comes to felony disenfranchisement, we are woefully behind. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have rolled back or eliminated restrictions on voting rights for people convicted of crime. Colorado and Nevada have restored voting rights to people on parole, and New York and Virginia have restored rights to many people who have finished their sentences. Florida and Louisiana eased their restrictions last year. Nearly two-thirds of the public supports restoring the right to vote to people on parole. Senator Elizabeth Warren has spoken in favor of it. Senator Bernie Sanders has gone further, arguing that people who are incarcerated should also have the right to vote, as in his state, Vermont, and Maine. This is one area, at least, where we should follow Senator Sanders' lead and restore the right to vote all citizens. Passing ACA 6 is a good first step.

Eliminating felony disenfranchisement is common sense. We don't disenfranchise citizens for public safety. It's not about teaching a lesson, inflicting punishment, or exacting retribution. It's about racism and voter suppression. It's part and parcel of the racist gerrymandering and census scare tactics supported by the Trump administration and its allies. And we should be ashamed it has continued in California for so long. Thanks to a coalition of advocacy groups and legislators behind ACA 6, we can finally end felony disenfranchisement for people on parole in our state. Let's do it. 

Chesa is a candidate for San Francisco District Attorney in the November 2019 election.