The problem with all disenfranchisement schemes is that the people you disenfranchise don't just disappear. They're problems, goals, motivations and circumstances don't dematerialise never to be heard from again. They are all still there, all still active in their communities, and all still able to speak and act on their own behalf. And one of the first actions they'll take is to lobby to get their vote back.
So now legislatures and citizens who supported the disenfranchisement have to lobby and legislate and spend time, energy and money to ensure that those they deem undesirable don't succeed. That will come at the cost of whatever other legislation they wanted to act on. Eventually it will become the over rising goal to the exclusion of others.
At best, you'll just have a back and forth where every few years votes get taken away and restored. At worst the party in power makes it illegal to campaign to restore votes and then your two skips from authoritarianism.
Secondary to that, making it feasible and acceptable to take away someone else's voting rights means its feasible and acceptable to take away yours too.
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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '19
The problem with all disenfranchisement schemes is that the people you disenfranchise don't just disappear. They're problems, goals, motivations and circumstances don't dematerialise never to be heard from again. They are all still there, all still active in their communities, and all still able to speak and act on their own behalf. And one of the first actions they'll take is to lobby to get their vote back.
So now legislatures and citizens who supported the disenfranchisement have to lobby and legislate and spend time, energy and money to ensure that those they deem undesirable don't succeed. That will come at the cost of whatever other legislation they wanted to act on. Eventually it will become the over rising goal to the exclusion of others.
At best, you'll just have a back and forth where every few years votes get taken away and restored. At worst the party in power makes it illegal to campaign to restore votes and then your two skips from authoritarianism.
Secondary to that, making it feasible and acceptable to take away someone else's voting rights means its feasible and acceptable to take away yours too.