"The right to vote is the fundamental building block in democracy, and it needs to be honored and exalted," said state Representative Francis Marini, a Republican, who filed the ballot question. "And to have pedophiles, murderers, and rapists voting demeans it."

The referendum, known as Question 2, amends the Massachusetts state constitution to prohibit people incarcerated on felony offenses from voting for various offices, including for U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

"This is part of the bipartisan assault on democratic rights, justified by demonizing a section of the population," said a statement released by the Massachusetts Socialist Workers campaign. "Working people, especially Blacks and Latinos, fill the jails. All those who defend democratic rights should oppose Question 2."

According to a Massachusetts Department of Corrections report, Blacks and Latinos each comprise about 5 percent of the state's population but make up 29 percent and 24 percent of the prison population respectively.

Some 4.2 million U.S. citizens--some behind bars, others released long ago--cannot vote because of felony disenfranchisement laws, according to a recent study. In Florida and Alabama, for example, 31 percent of all Black men are barred from casting a ballot because of felony convictions on their records.

In Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wyoming this restriction affects one in four Black men. These laws are in existence in nine states. Most other states, including New York, grant voting rights to felons once they have completed their prison and parole terms. Neither New Jersey nor Connecticut allows former felons on probation to vote.

The prison population in the United Sates has risen five-fold over the past 30 years and doubled to 2 million during the eight years of the Clinton administration. The number of people in the United States under supervision by the "justice" system--including those in jail, on parole, or on probation--stands at an all-time high of 6.3 million, or 3 percent of all adults. In all, about 7 percent of African-Americans are barred from voting because of felony convictions, compared to 2.1 percent of the general population.

In early October, a group of former prisoners in Florida announced plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit, charging the state law denying convicted felons the right to cast a ballot excludes Black voters and thus violates the Voting Rights Act. Earlier this year in Alabama, legislators narrowly rejected a similar effort to restore these voting rights.

The Supreme Court has ruled that state laws disenfranchising those with felony convictions do not violate constitutional rights, unless it can be proven that such laws are enacted with the intent to discriminate.

Brock Satter is a meat packer and was the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in the 9th C.D. in Massachusetts.  
 
 
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