On the season three opener of Justice Above All, host and Thurgood Marshall Institute Senior Researcher, Dr. Sandhya Kajeepeta explores the state of felony disenfranchisement. Across the country, previously incarcerated individuals are forced to navigate complex, bureaucratic processes in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote. In the past few years, we’ve seen increased criminalization of voting through new laws and the creation of election policing units, all under the guise of rooting out voter fraud. However, voter fraud is almost nonexistent—less than 1% of voters are suspected of committing voter fraud. These new tactics will likely disproportionately impact formerly incarcerated people. As a result, felony disenfranchisement laws, which are modern reincarnations of racist Jim Crow-era policies, pose an even greater threat to people’s individual freedom and our democracy.
Episode Guests:
Pamela Moses, Activist and Musician
Blair Bowie, Director, Restore Your Vote, Campaign Legal Center
Christina Das, Voting Rights Attorney, Legal Defense Fund
This episode is produced by Keecee DeVenny, Sandhya Kajeepeta, and Lauren O'Neil. It's edited by Keecee DeVenny.
If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a review and helping others find it! To keep up with the work of LDF please visit our website at www.naacpldf.org and follow us on social media at @naacp_ldf. To keep up with the work of the Thurgood Marshall Institute, please visit our website at www.tminstituteldf.org and follow us on Twitter at @tmi_ldf.
On the season three opener of Justice Above All, host and Thurgood Marshall Institute Senior Researcher, Dr. Sandhya Kajeepeta explores the state of felony disenfranchisement. Across the country, previously incarcerated individuals are forced to navigate complex, bureaucratic processes in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote. In the past few years, we’ve seen increased criminalization of voting through new laws and the creation of election policing units, all under the guise of rooting out voter fraud. However, voter fraud is almost nonexistent—less than 1% of voters are suspected of committing voter fraud. These new tactics will likely disproportionately impact formerly incarcerated people. As a result, felony disenfranchisement laws, which are modern reincarnations of racist Jim Crow-era policies, pose an even greater threat to people’s individual freedom and our democracy.
Episode Guests:
Pamela Moses, Activist and Musician
Blair Bowie, Director, Restore Your Vote, Campaign Legal Center
Christina Das, Voting Rights Attorney, Legal Defense Fund
This episode is produced by Keecee DeVenny, Sandhya Kajeepeta, and Lauren O'Neil. It's edited by Keecee DeVenny.
If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a review and helping others find it! To keep up with the work of LDF please visit our website at www.naacpldf.org and follow us on social media at @naacp_ldf. To keep up with the work of the Thurgood Marshall Institute, please visit our website at www.tminstituteldf.org and follow us on Twitter at @tmi_ldf.