Request for a Thematic Hearing on the Discriminatory Effects of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws, Policies and Practices in the Americas, LCCR SP ACLU, 2009

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Request for a Thematic Hearing on the Discriminatory Effects of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws, Policies and Practices in the Americas, LCCR SP ACLU, 2009

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Request for a Thematic Hearing on the
Discriminatory Effects of Felony
Disenfranchisement Laws, Policies and
Practices in the Americas
September 8, 2009

1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005-2124

Tel: 202.662.8600
Fax: 202.783.0857
www.lawyerscommittee.org

September 8, 2009

,
Co-Chairs
Nicholas T. Christakos
John S. Kiernan
Secretm)
Eleanor H. Smith
Treasurer
William L. Robinson
Counsel
Hamilton P. "Phil" Fox, III
Exewtive Directo!"
Barbara R. Arnwine

Dr. Santiago A. Canton
Executive Secretary
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Organization of American States
1889 F. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
RE:

Request for a Thematic Hearing on the Discriminatory Effects of
Felony Disenfranchisement Laws, Policies and Practices in the

Americas
Regional Vice-Chairs
Midwest Region
Jack Block
Teresa j. Kimker
No!"theastem Region
Greg01Y P. Hansel
Neil V McKittrick
Mid-At/cUitic Region
John McKeever
Bettina B. Pievan
SOlltheastem Region
Valerie Shea
Michael W -Lyler
Westen! l(egion
Paul F Eckstein
Amos Hartston
GregOlY P. L1ndis
Chesapeahe Region
Michael Chanin .
James J. Joseph

Dear Secretary Canton,
Pursuant to Article 64 of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights, we respectfully submit this request on behalf of the undersigned nongovernmental advocacy organizations for a thematic hearing on the issue of the
discriminatory effects of felony disenfranchisement laws during the upcoming fall
session of the Commission. Along with this Request, we include a copy of LOCKED
OUT: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY by Jeff Manza and
Christopher Uggen for each of the Commissioners.
As detailed in the attached Request, the felony disfranchisement laws, policies and
practices of certain OAS member states violate the right to vote free from
discrimination under the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and
the American Convention on Human Rights. Accordingly, we urge the Commission
to carry out a comprehensive review of the felony disfranchisement laws of member
states to assess their compliance with relevant human rights guarantees.
We respectfully ask that the Commission grant this request for a thematic hearing.
During the hearing we propose to provide the Commission with an overview of the
effect of felony disfranchisement laws on racial and ethnic minorities. Our
presentation will include the testimony of U.S. citizens who have lost their right to
vote, academics who have studied the effects of such laws, and discussion from
leaders of organizations and attorneys working to achieve the re-enfranchisement of
those with felony convictions.
If our request is granted we would also respectfully ask that you send an invitation to
the government ofthe United States requesting that their attendance at the hearing.

The Lawyers' Committee was formed at the request of President John I~ Kennedy in 1963

Should you require any further information before deciding on this request, please
contact me at (202) 662-8346.
Sincerely,

kltf~

MarcIa Johnson-Blanco,
on behalfof the requesting organizations
cc:

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP
Steven Watt, The American Civil Liberties Union
Ryan King, The Sentencing Project

The Lawyers' Committee was formed al the request of Presidenl]ohn F Kennedy in 1963

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
REQUESTING ORGANIZATIONS .............................................................................................. 3
I. DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN THE AMERICAS .................................................................... 5
A. The United States ................................................................................................................ 5
B.

The Americas ...................................................................................................................... 7

II. THE RIGHT TO VOTE ............................................................................................................. 8
A. Any Restrictions On the Right to Vote Must Serve a Legitimate State Aim and be
Reasonably Related to that Aim ......................................................................................... 9
B.

Any Restrictions On the Right to Vote Must Be Proportionate to the Offense and the
Sentence Imposed ............................................................................................................. 11

International Human Rights Law and State Practice Impose Restrictions on
Disenfranchisement Laws ................................................................................................. 13

III. THE RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION ...................................................... 15
A. International Human Rights Law Prohibits the Discriminatory Effects of Felony
Disenfranchisement........................................................................................................... 15
B.

International Law, Discrimination, and Disfranchisement Laws ..................................... 16

State Practice Supports Extending Voting Rights For Prisoners ...................................... 18

IV. THE DISCRIMINATORY NATURE OF FELONY DISENFRANCHISEMENT LAWS .. 20
A. The United States .............................................................................................................. 20

Cost of Disenfranchisement Laws ................................................................................ 22

U.S. Position on Felon Disenfranchisement Laws........................................................ 23
The Americas .................................................................................................................... 25

CONCLUSION AND REQUEST ................................................................................................ 27
SUPPORTERS OF REQUEST..................................................................................................... 28
ANNEX
Exhibit A (New Jersey Petition) ................................................................................................... 30
Exhibit B (Map of U.S. Disenfranchisement Laws) ................................................................... 102
Exhibit C (Barriers to Democracy, The Sentencing Project) ..................................................... 107

INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 64 of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission, the
undersigned nongovernmental organizations write to request that the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (―the Commission‖) hold a hearing to examine the laws, policies,
and practices among member states of the Organization of American States (―OAS‖) relating to
the issue of felony disenfranchisement. As discussed in more detail below, it is our considered
opinion that these laws, policies and practices violate fundamental provisions of the American
Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights,
including the right to vote and the right to be free from discrimination recognized by these two
instruments.
The right to vote and the right to be free from discrimination have long been recognized
in the inter-American system, yet many OAS member states deny or curtail these rights through
the operation of disenfranchisement laws, policies, and practices in their respective criminal
justice systems. The United States, in particular, stands out in terms of the breadth, depth, and
severity of its disenfranchisement practices, but the United States is not alone in maintaining
harsh disenfranchisement schemes. Like the United States, several other OAS member states,
including Uruguay and the Dominican Republic, have laws in place that disenfranchise their
citizens even after they have left prison.
Moreover, disenfranchisement laws, as applied by OAS member states, are
discriminatory in their operation as they disproportionately deprive minority and marginalized
populations of voting rights and impose correspondingly cumbersome reinstatement procedures
on those individuals formerly disenfranchised. For example, in the United States, nearly two
million African Americans – or 8.25 percent of the African American population – are
disenfranchised, a rate three times the national average.1
In light of these apparent violations of both the right to vote and the right to be free from
discrimination in the application of felony disenfranchisement laws by OAS member states, the

Jeff Manza & Christopher Uggen, LOCKED OUT: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND AMERICAN
DEMOCRACY 253 (Oxford University Press 2006).

organizations listed herein respectfully request that the Commission conduct a study of
disenfranchisement laws in the Americas to assess their compatibility with applicable human
rights‘ guarantees recognized under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,
the American Convention, and universal and regional human rights law generally.2

During their consideration of the information presented in this Request, we wish to draw the
Commissioners‘ attention to a petition pending before Commission addressing the issue of New Jersey
state felon disenfranchisement laws, policies and practices. Petition Alleging Violations Of The Human
Rights Of the New Jersey State Conference NAACP, The Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey,
Councilwoman Patricia Perkins-Auguste, Councilman Carlos J. Alma, Stacey Kindt, Michael Mackason,
Charles Thomas, and Dana Thompson By the United States Of America And The State Of New Jersey,
With Request For An Investigation And Hearing On The Merits, September 13, 2006 (attached as Exhibit
A) [hereinafter NEW JERSEY PETITION].

REQUESTING ORGANIZATIONS

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL)
Founded in 1963 by President John Kennedy, the principal mission of the Lawyers‘ Committee
is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law by marshaling the pro bono
resources of the private bar for litigation, public policy advocacy and other forms of service to
promote the cause of civil rights. Given the United States‘ history of racial discrimination, de
jure segregation, and the de facto inequities that persist, the Lawyers‘ Committee‘s primary
focus is to represent the interests of racial and ethnic minorities, and other victims of
discrimination in order to secure justice for all. Through national and international advocacy,
and representation, the organization works to promote the economic development of minority
communities, and ensure voting rights, fair housing, equal access to education and employment,
and environmental justice. Additionally, the Lawyers‘ Committee works to ensure full
compliance by the United States with treaty obligations particularly rights under treaties that
foster full civil participation by minorities and women and the elimination of racial
discrimination.
The Sentencing Project
The Sentencing Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting rational and effective
public policy on issues of crime and justice. Through research, education, and advocacy, the
organization analyzes the effects of sentencing and incarceration policies, and promotes costeffective and humane responses to crime. For more than a decade, The Sentencing Project has
been one of the leading organizations conducting research on the practice of felony
disenfranchisement in the United States and advocating for reform at the federal and state-level.
Staff have authored numerous studies on the policy, including a 1998 study that provided the
first state-based estimates of the impact of disenfranchisement. In addition, staff have testified
before federal and state legislative bodies and submitted reports to the United Nations‘ Human
Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination documenting
the impact of disenfranchisement policies.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
The American Civil Liberties Union (―ACLU‖) is a nationwide, nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization dedicated to protecting human rights and civil liberties in the United States. The
ACLU is the largest civil liberties organization in the country, with offices in 50 states and over
500,000 members. The ACLU was founded in 1920, largely in response to the curtailment of
liberties that accompanied America‘s entry into World War I, including the persecution of
political dissidents and the denial of due process rights for non-citizens. In the intervening
decades, the ACLU has advocated to hold the U.S. government accountable to the rights
protected under the U.S. Constitution and other civil and human rights laws. Since the tragic
events of 9/11, the core priority of the ACLU has been to stem the backlash against human rights

in the name of national security.
In 2004, the ACLU created a Human Rights Program specifically dedicated to holding the U.S.
government accountable to universal human rights principles in addition to rights guaranteed by
the U.S. Constitution. The ACLU Human Rights Program incorporates international human
rights strategies into ACLU advocacy on issues relating to racial justice, national security,
immigrants‘ rights, and women‘s rights.
The ACLU‘s Racial Justice Program aims to preserve and extend the constitutional rights of
people of color. Committed to combating racism in all its forms, the Program‘s advocacy
includes litigation, community organizing and training, legislative initiatives, and public
education.
The full breadth of the ACLU‘s work can be seen at www.aclu.org

DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN THE AMERICAS
A.

The United States

The United States bars 5.3 million Americans – or one in forty-one adults – from voting
due to a criminal conviction, most of which are non-violent in nature.3 Of that number, thirtynine percent have fully completed their sentences, including probation and parole, yet such
individuals are still deprived of their right to vote.4

The scope and impact of the

disenfranchisement laws in the United States are beyond comparison, especially with regard to
the continued deprivation of voting rights after incarceration.5
Each state in the United States has established its own laws with regard to the deprivation
of voting rights due to criminal conviction. Consequently, disenfranchisement laws vary widely.
Thirty-five states go so far as to prohibit voting by individuals who are not incarcerated but are
on parole; thirty deny voting rights to persons on felony probation;6 ten states restrict the voting
rights of certain individuals who have entirely completed their sentence; and in two of these
states all individuals with felony convictions must obtain clemency from the governor before
they can vote again.7 Only two states do not disenfranchise individuals with felony convictions

Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, LOCKED OUT: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND AMERICAN
DEMOCRACY 77 (Oxford University Press 2006).

Id. at 250.

―Felony disenfranchisement‖ or (―criminal disenfranchisement‖), refers to the loss of one‘s voting rights
as a consequence of a felony criminal conviction. Depending on the specific applicable law, such
disenfranchisement can occur during incarceration or after incarceration, either while an individual is on
probation or parole, or after the sentence is entirely completed.
5

Probation is a sentence ordered by a judge, usually instead of, but sometimes in addition to, serving time
in jail. Parole is the conditional release of a prison inmate after serving part (if not all) of his or her
sentence.
7

Two states deny the right to vote to all ex-felons who have completed their sentences. Nine others
disenfranchise certain categories of ex-offenders and/or permit application for restoration of rights for
specified offenses after a waiting period (e.g., five years in Delaware and Wyoming, and two years in
Nebraska). The Sentencing Project, Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States (2008),
http://sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/publications/fd_bs_fdlawsinus.pdf.

while incarcerated, notable exceptions to the rule.8

To illustrate the various state

disenfranchisement practices across the United States, a map and further discussion is provided
in Exhibit B, courtesy of the Brennan Center for Justice.
As will be discussed in depth below, U.S. felony disenfranchisement laws, dating back to
colonial times, grew significantly in the late 1800s after slaves were freed following the civil
war. State laws and constitutions that specified disqualifying crimes often focused exclusively
on offenses associated with the freed slaves and did not include serious crimes such as murder,
which was considered a ―white crime.‖9

At present, states with greater nonwhite prison

populations are more likely to ban convicted persons from voting than states with proportionally
fewer nonwhites in the criminal justice system.10 Furthermore, African Americans are not only
disproportionately disenfranchised, but are also less likely to have their voting rights restored.11
In recent decades, the disenfranchised population in the United States has experienced
significant growth due to both the increase in the number of overall felony convictions and the
existence of restrictive state laws that bar individuals with felony convictions from voting. This
trend has resulted in the steady expansion of the disenfranchised population in states with
permanent disenfranchisement laws, as seen in the figure below.12

Rare outliers, Maine and Vermont comprise the two states that do not deny those with felony
convictions the right to vote. The Sentencing Project, Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United
States (2008), available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/fd_bs_fdlawsinus.pdf
9

Erika Wood and Neema Trivedi, The Modern-Day Poll Tax: How Economic Sanctions Block Access to
the Polls, Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW (Sargent Shriver National Center
on Poverty Law), May-June 2007.
Angela Behrens, Christopher Uggen, & Jeff Manza, Ballot Manipulation and the “Menace of Negro
Domination”: Racial Threat and Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States, 1850-2002, 109 AJS
559, 596 (Nov. 2003). See also, Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, LOCKED OUT: FELON
DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 67 (Oxford University Press, 2006) (Chapter 2, The
Racial Origins of Felon Disenfranchisement, co-written with Angela Behrens) (where African Americans
make up a larger proportion of a state‘s prison population, the state is significantly more likely to adopt or
extend felon disenfranchisement).
10

Id. at 592.

Christopher Uggen & Jeff Manza, Democratic Contraction? Political Consequences of Felon
Disenfranchisement in the United States, 67 AM. SOC. 777, 782 (2002).

6.000.000

S.ooo.ooo

4 000 000
. •

" J.ooo.OOO

2.000.00lJ

1.00lJ.000

,
IIlW

1970

191~

19M

I98S

1990

I9'lS

~00lJ

~OO~

Although the United States defends its felony disenfranchisement laws as race neutral,
arguing that the laws are based on individual criminal tendencies, not race, the African American
disenfranchisement rate consistently exceeds that of whites.13
B.

The Americas

Other countries in the Americas do not generally impose automatic disenfranchisement
after a person completes his or her sentence, and no nation of the Americas disenfranchises to the
same extent as the United States. To illustrate, in addition to the United States, only nine other
countries in the Americas disenfranchise individuals who have completely served their
sentence—including probation and parole—while fifteen countries specifically forbid permanent
disenfranchisement.14

For a fuller examination of the different disenfranchisement laws

Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, LOCKED OUT: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND AMERICAN
DEMOCRACY 77 (Oxford University Press, 2006).
14

Countries with a prohibition against permanent disenfranchisement include: the Bahamas, Belize,
Bolivia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, St. Lucia,
Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

operating in the Americas, we refer the Commission to The Sentencing Project‘s 2007 request
for a thematic hearing, Barriers to Democracy.15
The Dominican Republic – one of the few countries in the Americas that allow
permanent and automatic disenfranchisement – limits this restriction to crimes of disobedience
regarding civic obligations. For instance, disenfranchisement is imposed on those convicted of
―treason, espionage, or conspiracy against the Republic, or for taking up arms, assisting in, or
participating in any attack against it.‖16
Suriname and Uruguay also have broad policies of permanent disenfranchisement.
Article 58 of Suriname‘s Constitution states that people shall lose the right to vote when such a
right has been ―denied by an irrevocable judicial decision.‖ Yet, the degree to which the courts
in Suriname actually revoke the right to vote in practice is unclear. Article 80 of Uruguay‘s
Constitution permits the state to permanently disenfranchise individuals who habitually engage
in morally dishonest activities, who are ―member[s] of social or political organizations which
advocate the destruction of the fundamental bases of the nation by violence or propaganda
inciting to violence,‖ and those who show ―a continuing lack of good conduct.‖
II.

THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Universal and regional human rights law, including treaty-based and customary

international law, has long recognized the right to vote. While not absolute, international human
rights law also recognizes that any restriction imposed by a State on the right to vote must serve
a legitimate state aim and be reasonably related – or proportionate – to that aim.17
Article 21(1) of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (―Universal Declaration‖)
states that ―[e]veryone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or
through freely chosen representatives.‖ Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration further states:
―The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed
in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
15

See Exhibit C attached.

CONSTITUCION POLITICA DE LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA, art. 14.

Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States, Case 11.204, Report No. 98/03 (2003).

held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.‖ Similarly, Article 25(b) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (―ICCPR‖) requires that every citizen have
the right and opportunity ―to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be
by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free
expression of the will of the electors.‖ Importantly, neither of these instruments limit the right to
―universal and equal suffrage‖ to citizens who have never been incarcerated or convicted of any
crime.
The Inter-American system likewise reflects a commitment to the principles of universal
and equal suffrage. The American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man (―American
Declaration‖) protects the right of ―[e]very person having legal capacity‖ to ―participate in the
government of his country, directly or through his representatives, and to take part in popular
elections, which shall be by secret ballot, and shall be honest, periodic and free.‖ 18 Article 2 of
the American Declaration states that ―[a]ll persons are equal before the law and have the rights
and duties established in this Declaration, without distinction as to race, sex, language, creed or
any other factor.‖ The American Convention on Human Rights (the ―American Convention‖)
guarantees similar rights. For example, Article 23 of the American Convention provides that
every citizen shall enjoy the right and opportunity ―to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic
elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the
free expression of the will of the voters.‖ Although subsection (2) permits member states to
regulate the right to vote on the basis of ―sentencing by a competent court in criminal
proceedings‖ (indicating that member states may impose certain restrictions on the voting rights
of people with criminal convictions), no such restriction appears in the Declaration‘s equivalent.
A.

Any Restrictions On the Right to Vote Must Serve a Legitimate State Aim and
be Reasonably Related to that Aim

Under international human rights law, the right to vote is not absolute and the state can
legitimately impose restrictions on the right.

For example, Article 20 of the American

Declaration limits the right to vote to those having ―legal capacity‖ and the American

American Declaration, art. 20.

Convention provides that the right may be restricted by, among other things, the ―sentencing [of]
a competent court in criminal proceedings.‖19
However, for a state to curtail a fundamental freedom such as the right to vote, the
limitation on the right must serve a legitimate state aim and be reasonably related to that aim.
The Commission itself referenced this ―legitimate aim‖ test in Statehood Solidarity Committee v.
United States, where it found that restrictions on voting rights must (1) ―pursue a legitimate‖ end
that is (2) ―reasonably and fairly related‖ to such a restriction.20 Further, in Claude Reyes and
others v. Chile, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held that it is a principle of the InterAmerican human rights system that restrictions on rights—such as the right to universal and
equal suffrage—be justified by reference to a legitimate goal and ―necessary‖ in a democratic
society.21 The European Court of Human Rights has adopted a similar test in assessing the
compatibility of any restriction imposed by Council of Europe member states on voting rights
with the right to vote recognized under the European Convention for the Protection of the
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe (the ―European
Convention‖).22
Similarly, Article 23(2) of the American Convention provides for the regulation of voting
rights due to ―sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings.‖ This grant of discretion
to OAS member states is constrained by the requirement that any restriction be made only in
pursuit of a legitimate state aim to minimize the impact on the fundamental right to vote. In
interpreting Article 23, the Commission requires member states to demonstrate that any laws
impinging on the right comply with certain minimum standards or conditions that preserve the
essence of the right to vote. The Commission‘s role in this process is to examine the restriction

American Convention, art. 23(2).

Statehood Solidarity at 90, citing I/A Court H.R., Advisory Opinion OC-4/84 of January 19, 1984, ¶

57.
21

Judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Claude Reyes and others v. Chile, delivered
on 11 October 2006, ¶ 95.
22

See Hirst v. United Kingdom (No.2), 681 Eur. Ct. H.R. (2005) (stating that restrictions on the right to
vote must pursue a legitimate end and that the means employed to achieve that aim may not be
disproportionate).

imposed and to ensure that any differential treatment applied in relation to voting rights is both
objective and reasonable.23
Applying this test, certain restrictions on voting rights may be permissible. For example,
member states may impose limitations on the right to vote so long as they are not only tailored
toward legitimate ends, but are also reasonably and fairly related to the objectives pursued by the
disenfranchisement law.24 For example, restrictions on voting rights based on the legal capacity
of minors or mentally incompetent persons, who lack the capacity to protect their interests,
would serve to further a legitimate state aim and be reasonably related to that aim.25 By contrast,
the mere fact that one has been convicted of a crime does not impact that individual‘s ability to
protect their interests and participate in society and, thus, should not be considered a basis for
restricting their right to vote.
B.

Any Restrictions On the Right to Vote Must Be Proportionate to the Offense
and the Sentence Imposed

Even where disenfranchisement laws are found to serve some legitimate state aim, they
must also be reasonably related – or proportionate – to the offense charged and the sentence
imposed.

In Hirst v. United Kingdom,26

the European Court of Human Rights reviewed

obligations imposed on state parties by the European Convention and other authorities, including
the ICCPR, to find that the right to vote was indeed a right, ―not a privilege,‖ and that,
ultimately, a ―blanket ban‖ on voting for those currently incarcerated stood in violation of this
principle.27
The European Court conceded that commission of certain criminal offenses, such as the
serious abuse of a public position or conduct that threatens ―to undermine the rule of law or

Id. ¶ 56.

Hirst v. United Kingdom (No.2), 681 Eur. Ct. H.R. (2005).

Id. ¶¶ 58-59

democratic foundations,‖ may indeed warrant disenfranchisement, and agreed with the United
Kingdom government‘s submission that crime prevention was a legitimate purpose for any
disenfranchisement law.28 However, because the law at issue barred all prisoners from voting
during their incarceration, the Court found the ban disproportionate to the state aim.29
Furthermore, the Court found it significant that 48,000 prisoners were disfranchised by the
measure.30 As the Court noted, this figure included a wide range of minor and major offenders.
Finally, the Court held that the United Kingdom‘s ―general, automatic and indiscriminate
restriction on a vitally important convention right‖ fell outside ―any acceptable margin of
appreciation.‖31
Similarly, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the ―Venice
Commission‖)32 also requires any ban on prisoner voting to be proportional, limited to serious
offenses, and explicitly imposed by sentencing courts.33 In its Report on the Abolition of

Id. ¶ 77.

Id. ¶ 71.

Id. The court cited approvingly the Venice Commission‘s recommendation that withdrawal of political
rights should only be carried out by express judicial decision, as ―a strong safeguard against
arbitrariness.‖ Id.

Id. ¶ 82. The ECHR judges split 12-5, with the dissenters arguing, inter alia, that courts should not
assume legislative functions. Id. ¶ 6 (Wildhaber, J., dissenting).
32

The Venice Commission, available at
http://www.venice.coe.int/site/main/presentation_E.asp?MenuL=E. The United States has observer status
at the Commission. See Members of the Venice Commission, Observer States, available at
http://www.venice.coe.int/site/dynamics/N_members_ef.asp?L=E.
The Commission‘s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (2002) states that: ―(i) provision may be
made for depriving individuals of their right to vote and to be elected, but only subject to the following
cumulative conditions. (ii) It must be provided for by law. (iii) The proportionality principle must be
observed; conditions for depriving individuals of the right to stand for election may be less strict than for
disenfranchising them. (iv) The deprivation must be based on mental incapacity or a criminal conviction
for a serious offense. (v) Furthermore, the withdrawal of political rights … may only be imposed by
express decision of a court of law.‖ Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, Part I (1)(dd), available
at http://www.Venice.coe.int/docs/2002/cdl-el(2002)005-e.asp, adopted at the Commission‘s 51st Plenary
Session (5-6 July 2002) and submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on
November 6, 2002. Adopted by the Council for Democratic Elections at its 14th meeting (Venice, 20
October 2005) and the Venice Commission at its 64th plenary session (Venice, 21-22 October 2005).

Restrictions on the Right to Vote in General Elections,34 which comprises both an aggregation
and an evaluation of the European Court of Human Rights‘ voting rights jurisprudence, the
Venice Commission concluded: ―[t]he Court constantly emphasizes that . . . there is room for
inherent limitations . . . however measures of the state must not impair the very essence of the
rights protected under Article 3 Protocol No. 1.‖35
C.

International Human Rights law and State Practice Impose Restrictions on
Disenfranchisement Laws

National courts around the world have also rejected laws that seek to disenfranchise
based solely on past criminal convictions. The Canadian Supreme Court reached the same
conclusion as the Hirst decision in the Sauvé cases. In Sauvé v. Canada (Attorney General)
(Sauvé No. 1),36 the Canadian Supreme Court struck down a ―blanket‖ ban on voting for those
currently incarcerated.37 There, the Court held that such a ban was not reasonably related to a
legitimate state aim. When the disputed law was amended by the government to deny voting
rights to those incarcerated for at least two years, the plaintiff returned to court to challenge this
new law. In Sauvé v. Canada, (Chief Electoral Officer) (Sauvé No. 2),38 the Supreme court
struck down the law, stating that ―[d]enying a citizen the right to vote denies the basis of
democratic legitimacy,‖39 and that even this narrower restriction on voting rights failed to further
a legitimate state aim.40

Report on the Abolition of Restrictions on the Right to Vote in General Elections, CDL-AD(2005)012,
endorsed by the Venice Commission at its 61st Plenary Session (Venice, 3-4 December 2004), available
at http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2005/CDL-AD(2005)012-e.asp.
35

Id. ¶ 82.

[1993] 2 S.C.R. 438.

Id.

3 S.C.R. 519, 2002 S.C.C. 68 (2002).

Id. ¶ 32.

See generally 3 S.C.R. 519, 2002 S.C.C. 68 (2002).

National courts in South Africa and Israel have reached the same conclusion. In August
and another v. Electoral Commission and others,41 and in Minister of Home Affairs v. NICRO,42
the Constitutional Court of South Africa held that practices denying prisoners absentee ballots
and the right to vote were not justified under the constitution. Upholding the right to vote vested
in all citizens, the Court observed, ―the universality of the franchise is important not only for
nationhood and democracy. The vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of
personhood. Quite literally, it says that everybody counts.‖43
Likewise, in Hila Alrai v. Minister of the Interior and Yigal Amir,44 the government of
Israel requested that the right to vote be denied to Yigal Amir, who was imprisoned for
assassinating Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Israeli court, however, denied the petitioner‘s
request, reasoning: ―Without the right to vote, the infrastructure of all other fundamental rights
would be damaged. Therefore, in a democratic system, the right to vote will be restricted only in
extreme circumstances enacted clearly in law.‖45 The Israeli court refused to alter its practices,
and affirmed that the right to vote is limited by only two criteria: citizenship and attaining the
age of 18.46
In short, foreign constitutional courts have found that the disqualification of prisoners
from voting violates basic democratic principles.47 Thus, disenfranchisement laws – such as
those present in the United States that disenfranchise those who have been released from prison–
will likewise violate these same principles. International human rights law guarantees the right
of legal capacity to vote and any restriction imposed by the state on that right must serve a
legitimate state aim and be reasonably related to that aim. Any law that seeks to impose a
41

1999 (3) SA 1 (CC).

2005 (3) SA 280 (CC).

Id. at ¶ 28, quoting August ¶ 17.

H.C. 2757/96 (1996).

Id. at 2 (citations omitted).

Id.

Laleh Ispahani, Voting Rights and Human Rights, in CRIMINAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT 25 (Alec Ewald
& Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).

blanket voting ban on individuals with criminal convictions cannot serve a legitimate aim of the
state and, in any event, is impermissible because it is disproportionate to the offense charged or
the sentence imposed.
III.

THE RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION
A.

International Human Rights Law Prohibits the Discriminatory Effects of
Felony Disenfranchisement

The Commission itself has highlighted that the right to equality before the law should
exist in practice, as well as in substantive provisions of the law.48 Not only do many felony
disenfranchisement laws in the United States and elsewhere in the Americas lack a legitimate
state aim, they also have a disproportionate impact on the voting rights of black and Hispanic
individuals.49
Under universal and regional human rights law, discriminatory conduct is considered
unlawful where the purpose or effect of the alleged treatment is discriminatory in nature. This
effects-based standard is incorporated in both the ICCPR and the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (the ―ICERD‖). The United Nations Human
Rights Committee (―HRC‖) has elaborated on the ICCPR‘s equal protection provision found in
Article 26, including in its General Comments that Article 26 ―[p]rohibits discrimination in law
or in fact in any field regulated or protected by public authorities.‖50 Significantly, the HRC
expressed concern that the United States‘ felony disenfranchisement practices have ―significant
racial implications.‖51 The HRC noted also that ―general deprivation of the right to vote for

See e.g., William Andrews v. United States, Case 11.139, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report No. 57/96,
OEA/Ser.L/V?ii.95, doc. 7 rev. at 570 ¶ 173 (1997).

For further discussion of this issue see NEW JERSEY PETITION, Exhibit A.

Human Rights Committee, General Comment 18, Non-discrimination (Thirty-seventh session, 1989).
Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty
Bodies, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 26 (1994) (emphasis added).

Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on the Second and Third U.S. Reports to the
Committee, CCPR/C/USA/CO/3/Rev.1 (2006) 35.

persons who have received a felony conviction, and in particular those who are no longer
deprived of liberty, do not meet the requirements of articles 25 of 26 of the [ICCPR].‖52
Similarly, the ICERD defines discrimination as ―any distinction, exclusion, restriction or
preference based on race, colour, descent or national ethnic origin which has the purpose or
effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of
human rights and fundamental freedoms.‖53

The Committee to End Racial Discrimination

(―CERD‖)–the body tasked with monitoring compliance with ICERD—highlighted its concern
about the ―[t]he political disenfranchisement of a large segment of the ethnic minority population
[in the United States] who are denied the right to vote by disenfranchising laws and practices.‖54
The CERD called upon the United States to take all appropriate measures to ensure political
participation rights to its citizens without discrimination. As of this date, no action has been
undertaken by the United States in response.
B.

International Law, Discrimination and Disenfranchisement Laws

National courts and international tribunals that have considered the alleged
discriminatory impact of felony disenfranchisement laws have struck them down as
discriminatory. For example, in Sauvé No. 2, the Canadian Supreme Court overturned a national
election law that disenfranchised individuals with felony convictions serving two years or more
in prison, noting the potential for systemic discrimination given the disproportionate
representation of aboriginal Canadians in the federal inmate population. The Court concluded
that the provision was unconstitutional and specifically ―contrary to Canada‘s movement toward

Id. Article 25(b) of the ICCPR requires that every citizen shall have the right and opportunity ―to vote
and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.‖ Articles 26 declares
that ―[a]ll persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal
protection of the law.‖ ICCPR, Dec. 19, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171.
52

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, G.A. res. 2106
(XX), Annex, 20 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 47, entered into force Jan. 4, 1969.

Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
United States of America, U.N. Doc. A/56/18, ¶ 397 (2001).

universal suffrage.‖55

The Court went further to render ―blanket discrimination as being

arbitrary and not fulfilling any of the traditional goals of incarceration, such as deterrence,
retribution, or rehabilitation.‖56
The Sauvé No. 2 decision made clear that ―racial discrimination exacerbates the
deprivation of a fundamental right,‖ with the Court emphasizing ―the strong potential for
discrimination against indigenous populations in the denial of the franchise to prisoners.‖57
Furthermore, in the context of the Sauvé litigation, ―two novel equality rights arguments were
made . . . [that] prisoners as a group constitute a discrete and insular minority that has been
subjected historically to social, legal and political discrimination . . . . [and] [t]hat the criminal
justice system is riddled with systemic discrimination because of disproportionate representation
of aboriginal Canadians in the federal inmate population.‖58
Similarly, in Hirst,59 the European Court of Human Rights highlighted the discriminatory
effect of the British disenfranchisement law. The law, a blanket deprivation of voting rights to
―all prisoners for their entire period of imprisonment, regardless of the crime they committed,‖
was found to violate the European Convention for the Protection of the Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe.60 The European Court concluded that the law
was arbitrary and discriminatory, finding that the disputed sentencing practice lacked ―any direct
link between the facts of any individual case and the removal of the right to vote.‖61

Christopher Uggen, Mischelle Van Brakle, & Heather McLaughlin, et al., Punishment and Social
Exclusion: National Differences in Prisoner Disenfranchisement, in CRIMINAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT
59, 72-73 (Alec Ewald & Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).
56

Id. at 73.

Richard J. Wilson, The Right to Universal, Equal and Nondiscriminatory Suffrage as a Norm of
Customary International Law: Protecting the Prisoner’s Right to Vote, in CRIMINAL
DISENFRANCHISEMENT 109, 131 (Alec Ewald & Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).
58

Christopher Manfredi, In Defense of Prisoner Disenfranchisement, in CRIMINAL
DISENFRANCHISEMENT 259, 261 (Alec Ewald & Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).
59

Hirst v. United Kingdom (Hirst No. 1) 30.6.2004, Rep 2004.

Id.

State Practice Supports Extending Voting Rights For Prisoners

While disenfranchisement policies vary, an increasing number of nations are moving
toward greater recognition for political rights, including voting rights, for those who have a
criminal conviction.62 Seventeen European countries63 allow all prisoners to vote and eleven64
extend voting rights to some people in prison.65 In several of the countries where certain
prisoners are barred from voting, legislation requires that the court impose this additional penalty
strictly on a case-by-case basis. All but four of the countries that disfranchise prisoners do so in
relation to certain, serious offenses. The remaining European nations only disqualify certain
prisoners from voting based on the length of sentence.66
All of the remaining twelve European nations67 allow individuals to automatically vote
upon release from custody.68 Of the twelve European nations that bar individuals from voting
until their release, all but two are former Eastern Bloc countries with limited histories of
universal suffrage.69 Thus, even in post-communist Eastern European nations, where democratic
values are still emerging, governments are taking notably proactive steps to ensure prisoners can
―Dozens of countries, particularly in Europe, allow and even facilitate voting by prisoners, whereas
many others bar some or all people under criminal supervision from the franchise.‖ Introduction, in
CRIMINAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT 15 (Alec Ewald & Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).
62

Id. (Albania, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland,
Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia,
Sweden and Switzerland).

Id. (Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland,
Portugal and Romania).

Laleh Ispahani, Out of Step With the World: An Analysis of Felony Disenfranchisement in the U.S. and
Other Democracies. American Civil Liberties Union (2006), available at
http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file825_25663.pdf.

Id.

Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and
the United Kingdom.

Id.

vote. In Kosovo, for example, ―the municipal elections of 2000 allowed for special electoral
assistance to ‗special needs voters,‘ [which] include[ed] . . . those incarcerated in prison, not
convicted of a felony.‖70 Macedonia provides another example where all prisoners are allowed
to vote rather than just those not convicted of felonies.71 Though debates and divisions persist
among European nations regarding disenfranchisement, and the region still struggles with
tensions related to economic and social heterogeneity, ―it is extremely rare for anyone who is not
in prison [in Europe] to lose the right to vote.‖72
Finally, Australia presents a good example of another nation wrestling with prisoner
disenfranchisement issues based on their discriminatory effects. The Australian Human Rights
and Equality Opportunity Commission addressed the issue recently in the Commission‘s
―submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Electoral and Referendum Amendment‖ noting that
―‗the right to participate in the political process, including the right to vote, is a fundamental civil
liberty and human right and should be enjoyed by all people without discrimination‘ given the
nation‘s status as party to the ICCPR and ICERD.‖73 Similar to the discrimination against
minorities suffered in the Americas, ―there is increasing evidence that disenfranchisement affects
indigenous Australians disproportionately, in a way that amounts to discrimination,‖ an
argument gaining strength as ―indigenous imprisonment rates and levels of disproportionately
worsen.‖74

Brandon Rottinghaus, Incarceration and enfranchisement: International Practices, Impact, and
Recommendations for Reform 32-33 (International Foundation for Election Systems) 2003.

Id. at 34.

Id. at 27. For example, ―in Belgium, Romania, and Lithuania, more than 60 percent of the inmates
vote.‖ Id. at 26.

Ronnit Redman, David Brown, & Bryan Mercurio, The Politics and Legality of Prisoner
Disenfranchisement in Australian Federal Elections, in CRIMINAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT 167, 190 (Alec
Ewald & Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).

Id. at 169.

IV.

THE DISCRIMINATORY NATURE OF FELONY DISENFRANCHISEMENT
LAWS
A.

The United States

The ultimate effect of felony disenfranchisement policies in the United States is to
exacerbate racial exclusion.

Several scholars have traced the enhanced impact of

disenfranchisement laws in certain states to a mid-nineteenth century effort to bar newly-freed
African Americans from participating in local elections.75 Other devices in support of this
strategy included literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses which allowed for inconsistent
and discriminatory application of the laws. Essentially, states purposefully tied the loss of voting
rights to those crimes believed to be predominantly associated with black citizens, while
excluding those crimes believed to be more often committed by whites.

For example, in

Alabama the crime of ―wife-beating‖ – thought by lawmakers to be a crime predominantly
committed by blacks – carried with it a penalty of disenfranchisement, whereas the crime of
murder, allegedly committed equally by whites and blacks, did not lead to disenfranchisement.76
While facially discriminatory laws were eventually overturned, felony disenfranchisement laws
are vestiges of this exclusionary strategy. Now, more than ever, these laws require intense
scrutiny based on international human rights norms.
The unwarranted racial disparities in the criminal justice system in the United States (in
terms of policing, arrest, sentencing, and incarceration) result in felony disenfranchisement laws
having a disproportionate impact on African American and Hispanic minority groups. In 2007,
thirty-eight percent of the nation‘s 1.5 million prison inmates were black and twenty-one percent
were Hispanic,77 despite the fact that these groups only represent twelve and fifteen percent of
75

See, e.g. Bailey Figler, A Vote for Democracy: Confronting the Racial Aspects of Felon
Disenfranchisement, 61 N.Y.U. ANN. SURV. AM. L. 723, 732 (2006); Daniel S. Goldman, The ModernDay Literacy Test?: Felon Disenfranchisement and Race Discrimination, 57 STAN. L. REV. 611, 626
(2004); Marc Mauer, Felon Disenfranchisement: A Policy whose Time Has Passed? (2004), available at
http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/publications/fd_fdpolicywhosetime.pdf;
Christopher Uggen & Jeff Manza, Democratic Contraction? Political Consequences of Felon
Disenfranchisement in the United States, 67 AM. SOC. 777, 781 (2002).
76

Virginia E. Hench, The Death of Voting Rights: The Legal Disenfranchisement of Minority Votes, 48
CASE W. RES. L. REV 727, 741 (1998).
77

The Sentencing Project, Facts About Prisons and Prisoners (2009) (citing Bureau of Justice Statistics),
available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_factsaboutprisons.pdf.

the general population, respectively.78 As for why these minorities are disproportionately
represented in the criminal justice system, a study by criminologist Alfred Blumstein revealed
that there is greater room for sentencing discretion regarding lower-level offenses and drug
offenses, and that ―the room for discretion also offers the opportunity for the introduction of
racial discrimination.‖79

Another study, examining Pennsylvania sentencing practices to

compare sentencing outcomes for white, black, and Hispanic defendants, found ―overall more
lenient treatment of white defendants‖ in both drug and non-drug cases.80
Such insidious discriminatory patterns in the criminal justice system contribute to the
prospect that three in ten black men can expect to be disenfranchised at some point in their
lifetime.81 Thus, disenfranchisement laws disproportionately affect those minorities already
struggling to gain representation in the national electorate. Not only are such populations denied
the right to vote, but those who have completed sentences find themselves unable to completely
rejoin their community when deprived of the democratic rights afforded to other citizens, thus
engendering resentment and alienation.82 Although courts in the United States uphold the right
to disenfranchise citizens based on felony convictions, the discriminatory effects of these laws
remain impermissible under international and regional human rights standards.

U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program (2007).

Alfred Blumstein, Racial Disproportionality of U.S. Prison Populations Revisited, 64 U. COLO. L. REV.
743, 746 (1993).
Darrell Steffensmeier & Stephen Demuth, Ethnicity and Judges’ Sentencing Comparisons Decisions:
Hispanic-Black-White, CRIMONOLOGY 39 (2001). ―As socially disadvantaged offenders and recent
immigrants, Hispanic defendants [in particular] may lack the resources (e.g., financial, cultural) to resist
or soften the imposition of harsh penalties. They also may feel alienation from a system they believe
treats them unfairly and seem more recalcitrant.‖ Id. at 168.
80

The Sentencing Project, Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States (2008), available at
http://sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/publications/fd_bs_fdlawsinus.pdf.

―Millions of convicted felons across the nation, once they have served their sentence, find they are not
allowed to participate in the electoral process—the fact of their conviction barring them from the very act
that defines our national identity and our citizenship. This is possibly a worse sentence than the one they
have already served. If a woman cannot vote, if a man cannot cast his ballot, they are being punished
again for a crime they have already paid for.‖ Walter Mosley, Editorial, THE NATION, Feb. 12, 2007, at 8
82

Cost of Disenfranchisement Laws

The suppression of overall voter registration rates in communities with high rates of
disenfranchisement, suggesting that eligible voters are also failing to register, represents a
significant consequence of felony disenfranchisement laws.83

This result amplifies the cost of

racial disenfranchisement and results in reduced political participation by affected
communities.84 Sentiments from those recently able to vote, for the first time in the recent 2008
election after losing and regaining the right to vote following a criminal conviction, reflect the
toll that these laws have on individuals and their community.

Terry Sallis, a formerly

incarcerated individual, described the feeling of disenfranchisement as something that ―reflects
on you, and a lack of respect for yourself and the status quo.‖85 On the restoration of her right to
vote, Linda Steele said:
There were tears in my eyes as I waited to vote. I felt like I was
finally a productive member of society. I‘ve never before felt like
I could make a difference in terms of what happens around me.
But I walked out of the polling place on Election Day feeling like I
mattered, that I made a difference. I realized how far I‘ve come.
Amazing.86
At twenty years of age Andres Idarraga was told he could not vote until his 58th birthday, a wait
of over thirty years, due to a drug conviction.87 Idarraga completed his prison sentence, but due
to a decades-long parole term would not be eligible to vote for this lengthy period. However, in
2006 he was able to help reform the now-amended Rhode Island law, once prohibiting
individuals with felony convictions from voting until they completed parole and probation; now
83

Ryan King, A Decade of Reform: Felony Disenfranchisement Policy in the United States, The
Sentencing Project, Oct. 2006, at 19 available at
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/fd_decade_reform.pdf.
84

Brennan Center for Justice, My First Vote 5 (2009), available at
http://brennan.3cdn.net/619b90033df11589af_wam6vqy4s.pdf.
86

Id. at 2.

Sentencing Project, Felony Disenfranchisement, Featured Stories, available at
http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=130.

Mr. Idarraga can exercise his right to vote.88 On registering to vote, he explained, ―It feels good
to be a part of the democratic process. It was very fulfilling, but truthfully, I had mixed feelings.
I thought, ‗why did I have to work so hard just to sign this little piece of paper.‘‖ 89 While Rhode
Island‘s reform exemplifies the potential for changing harsh disenfranchisement penalties, many
more states await such change and resist reformation efforts.
In sum, felony disenfranchisement not only affects an individual‘s ability to vote, but also
presents an impact on a societal level, leading to the further civic isolation of marginalized racial
minority groups. As set forth by the Supreme Court of Canada in Sauvé v. Canada, ―[d]epriving
at-risk individuals of their sense of collective identity and membership in the community is
unlikely to instill a sense of responsibility and community identity, while the right to participate
in voting helps teach democratic values and social responsibility.‖90
2.

U.S. Position on Felon Disenfranchisement Laws

The legal mechanisms available in the United States for addressing the disparate racial
impact of disenfranchisement laws are woefully inadequate. The proof requirements under the
14th Amendment of the United States Constitution render the invalidation of felony
disenfranchisement laws, on the basis of their disproportionate impact on racial minorities, an
extremely difficult task.
The United States Supreme Court in Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24 (1974) held
under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution states need not demonstrate a
compelling interest before denying the vote to citizens convicted of crimes, because Section 2 of
the 14th Amendment expressly allowed states to deny the right to vote for participation in
rebellion, or other crime. The Supreme Court interpreted this as the Constitution permitting
states to limit voting rights.

Some courts have circumvented the rule and constraints of

Id.

Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer) (Sauvé No. 2), [2002] 3 S.C.R. 519, 2002 S.C.C. 68, ¶ 38.

Ramirez.91

Yet, most courts have embraced Ramirez’s view that Section 2 of the 14th

Amendment expressly sanctions disenfranchisement laws.
In Hunter v. Underwood, the Supreme Court made clear that Ramirez left open a valid
argument that the unequal enforcement of disenfranchisement laws is unconstitutional, and found
that Alabama‘s disenfranchisement laws had been enacted to intentionally discriminate on
account of race.92 Furthermore, under Hunter, to demonstrate discrimination under the Equal
Protection Clause, a plaintiff must introduce historical evidence that legislators deliberately
passed the disputed law in order to discriminate against minorities.93 The Court concluded that
Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment was ―not designed to permit the purposeful racial
discrimination attending the enactment and operation of [the felony disenfranchisement statute]
which otherwise violates Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment.‖94 But the standard set forth
in Hunter remains a stringent one as intentional discrimination is generally difficult to prove.
Consequently, most courts have not found disenfranchisement laws to violate the Equal
Protection Clause.95 Some courts have even tried to narrow the protections of Hunter.96

See Thiess v. State Administrative Board of Election Laws, 387 F. Supp. 1038 (D. Md. 1974) (Ramirez
left open the possibility that unequal enforcement may violate the Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment); Williams v. Taylor, 677 F.2d 510 (5th Cir. 1982) (selective enforcement can
lead to the invalidation of an otherwise constitutional disenfranchisement law).

471 U.S. 222 (1985).

Id.

Id. at 233.

See Howard v. Gilmore, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 2680 (4th Cir. Feb. 23, 2000) (Commonwealth‘s
decision to disenfranchise felons pre-dated adoption of the constitutional amendments and the extension
of the franchise to African-Americans; the Fourteenth Amendment itself permits denial of franchise upon
criminal conviction; the VRA claim failed because there was no nexus established between
disenfranchisement of felons and race).

See Cotton v. Fordice, 157 F.3d 388 (5th Cir. 1998) (although the original statute was enacted to
discriminate against African-Americans and included only crimes thought to be primarily committed by
African-Americans, subsequent amendments that broadened the list of crimes removed the discriminatory
taint associated with the original version; the Fifth Circuit found that the original discriminatory intent
was no longer present and the current statute was not unconstitutional); see also Johnson v. Bush, 405
F.3d 1214 (11th Cir. 2005) (Eleventh Circuit ruled en banc that Florida‘s initial decision to adopt the
disenfranchisement provision was based on a non-racial rationale because, at the time, the right to vote
was not extended to African Americans, the existence of racial discrimination behind some of the

Two avenues remain available to challenge a felony disenfranchisement law under the
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment: showing a pattern of unequal or selective
enforcement, and showing the law was enacted to intentionally discriminate.
Internationally, the United States has engaged in a dialogue about the legality and
discriminatory impact of disenfranchisement under international law, though only to a limited
extent. The United States was confronted specifically about the issue during the 2003 country
review before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination where U.S. delegate
Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., acknowledged that ―the issue was serious‖ and that it was to be given ―very
serious consideration.‖97 In 2008, the CERD again confronted the disparity of the application of
disenfranchisement laws in the U.S., and recommended that the U.S. adopt certain measures to
relieve this disparity including the automatic restoration of the right to vote after the completion
of the criminal sentence.98 However, since that time, the United States government has taken no
demonstrable action concerning felony disenfranchisement policy.
B.

The Americas

While there is a dearth of data demonstrating the actual effects of felon
disenfranchisement policies in the Americas, outside of the United States, a preliminary analysis
of the laws and policies of other OAS member states demonstrate that the laws of certain states
fail to comply with international human rights standards protecting the right to vote and be free
from discrimination.

As mentioned above, the Uruguayan constitution provides for post-

incarceration disenfranchisement for broad and ill-defined categories such as those that
―habitually engage in morally dishonest activities.‖

Similar to the example provided for

Alabama in the United States, a person in Uruguay can lose their voting rights even after being
constitutional provisions in Florida did not show that racial animus motivated the criminal
disenfranchisement provision given Florida‘s long-standing tradition of criminal disenfranchisement, and
reenactment eliminated any taint from the allegedly discriminatory 1968 provision).
97

U.N. CERD, 59th Sess., 1476th mtg. on Aug. 6, 2001 at 3, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/SR.1476 (May 22,
2003), ¶ 57; Richard J. Wilson, The Right to Universal, Equal and Nondiscriminatory Suffrage as a Norm
of Customary International Law: Protecting the Prisoner’s Right to Vote, in CRIMINAL
DISENFRANCHISEMENT 109, 122-23 (Alec Ewald & Brandon Rottinghaus, eds., 2009).
98

U.N. CERD, 72nd Sess., 1870th mtg. on March 5, 2008 at 9, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/USA/CO/6 (Feb.
2006), ¶ 27.

released from prison because they were engaged in the so-called ―morally dishonest activity‖ of
writing fraudulent checks, for example.

International human rights standards proscribe

disenfranchisement following release from prison because such a practice is not proportional to
the crime committed.
Unlike practices in the various states of the United States and Uruguay which
disenfranchise based on more general categories (i.e. any felony conviction or ―morally
dishonest activity‖), the disenfranchisement-eligible crimes of the Dominican Republic involve
subversion of the state – ―treason, espionage, or conspiracy against the Republic, or for taking up
arms, assisting in, or participating in any attack against it.‖ As these are actions that stand in
direct opposition to civil participation, it is arguable that the deprivation of the right to vote is a
proportional to those crimes.
A preliminary analysis of disenfranchisement laws in the Americas also demonstrates the
potentially discriminatory effect of these laws on minority and marginalized populations in those
countries.

Brazil, for example, disenfranchises prisoners during incarceration for criminal

convictions and strips voting rights from those sentenced by courts of ―last resort,‖ where the
appellate process is exhausted.99
The issue of race intersects with disenfranchisement policy in Brazil, as black and
mestizo Brazilians are overrepresented in certain inmate populations in relation to their white
counterparts. In its 2003 report to the CERD, Brazil highlighted three states, São Paolo, Rio
Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais, where overrepresentation of black and mixed-race populations
permeates the prison system.100 Thus, the policies and practices that exist in Brazil to limit
voting rights and civic benefits based on criminal convictions have disproportionate
repercussions on populations overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

CONSTITUIÇÃO DA REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DO BRASIL, art. 15.

100

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Report Submitted by States Parties Under
Article 9 of the Convention Addendum 414-16, CERD/C/431/Add.8 (Brazil) (Oct. 16, 2003).

CONCLUSION AND REQUEST
Based on the aforementioned evidence and discussion, we urge the Commission to grant
this request for a thematic hearing and after the hearing (1) conduct out a comprehensive review
of the felon disenfranchisement laws, policies and practices of OAS member states to assess their
compliance with applicable human rights guarantees including the right to vote and the right to
be free from discrimination and (2) where appropriate, make recommendations to member states
as to how they may bring their laws into compliance with those standards.

SUPPORTERS OF REQUEST
A.

National Organizations
National Black Police Association
National Congress of Black Women
National Women‘s Prison Project
National Resource Center on Children and
Families of the Incarcerated
Nonprofit Voter Engagement Project
November Coalition Foundation
Penal Reform International/The Americas
People Advocating Recovery
Prison Legal News, a Project of Human
Rights Defense Center
Quest Institute, Inc., Books-Behind Bars
Real Cost of Prisons Project
The Inner Voices
The Wright Institute
United Methodist Church General Board of
Church & Society
Voice of the Ex-offender
Wallace Global Fund

A. Philip Randolph Institute
African American Human Rights
Foundation
Association of Community Organizations
for Reform Now
Brennan Center for Justice
Campaign for Youth Justice
Center for International Human Rights,
Northwestern Law School
Center for Constitutional Rights
Coalition for the Peoples‘ Agenda
Coalition for Nonviolence and Restorative
Justice
Dēmos
Fraternal Order of X-Offenders
International CURE
International Human Rights Clinic at
American University College of Law
Just Detention International
Justice Fund

State Organizations

AdvoCare, Inc.
Alabama CURE
American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama
American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska
American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona
American Civil Liberties Union of Florida
American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky
American Civil Liberties Union of
Mississippi
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California

Arizona African American Legislative and
Leadership Council
Arizona Public Defender Association
California Prison Focus
Central Kentucky Council for Peace and
Justice
Colorado CURE
Community Service Society
Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii
Florida CURE
FedCURE
Georgia Rural Urban Summit

Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project
Restore the Vote WI NOW! Coalition a
project of the ACLU of Wisconsin
Rhode Island Family Life Center
The Primavera Foundation
Virginia C.U.R.E.
Virginia Reentry Initiative
Women's Council of the California Chapter
of the National Association of Social
Workers and the Association of Women in
Social Work

Hamden Consulting
Justice Maryland
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Maricopa County NAACP
Michigan CURE
Mississippi Voter Empowerment Coalition
Missouri CURE
New Mexico CURE
New York CURE
New York State Defenders Justice Fund

International Supporters

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), ARGENTINA
Instituto Terra, Trabalho e Cidadania (ITTC), BRAZIL
John Conroy, Counsel for British Columbia Civil Liberties Association in Sauvé v. Canada,
CANADA
Dr. Julio C. Guastavino Aguiar, Member of Prison’s Commission, URUGUAY

EXHIBIT A

TO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OF THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS,
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
______________________________________________________________
PETITION ALLEGING VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS
OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE CONFERENCE NAACP, THE LATINO
LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEW JERSEY, COUNCILWOMAN PATRICIA
PERKINS-AUGUSTE, COUNCILMAN CARLOS J. ALMA, STACEY KINDT,
MICHAEL MACKASON, CHARLES THOMAS, AND DANA THOMPSON, BY
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AND THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, WITH REQUEST FOR AN
INVESTIGATION AND HEARING ON THE MERITS

By the undersigned, appearing as counsel for the petitioners under the provisions of
Article 23 of the Commission’s Regulations, on behalf of above Petitioners including
Non-Governmental Organizations Registered Under the Laws of the United States and
United States citizens:
__________________________
Laleh Ispahani
Steven Macpherson Watt
Ann Beeson
American Civil Liberties Union
Human Rights &
Racial Justice Programs

_______________________
Professor Frank Askin
Professor Penny Venetis
Rutgers School of Law
Constitutional Litigation Clinic

Submitted: September 13, 2006

PETITION ALLEGING VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS BY THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, WITH
REQUEST FOR AN INVESTIGATION AND HEARING ON THE MERITS
I.
INTRODUCTION
Petitioners are citizens residing in New Jersey who were sentenced for
committing crimes, and who are on parole and probation living in their communities
throughout the State of New Jersey. Petitioners cannot vote because a New Jersey law
disfranchises probationers and parolees. Petitioners seek review from this Commission in
their efforts to restore their most fundamental of rights – the right to vote. This Petition is
not merely about the right of individual offenders to cast a ballot; it is also about the right
of the African-American and Latino communities to participate fully and effectively in
the political process.
Because of acknowledged racial profiling and other discriminatory aspects of the
criminal justice system in New Jersey and throughout the United States,1 persons of color
are investigated, arrested, prosecuted and convicted out of all proportion to their
propensity to commit crime. Felon disfranchisement law thus disproportionately affects
them. By disproportionately excluding from the electorate so many African Americans
and Latinos, felon disfranchisement significantly dilutes the political power of those
constituencies.
The scandalous nature of felon disfranchisement in the United States was
highlighted in an editorial, which appeared in the New York Times on October 14, 2005:
The United States has the worst record in the democratic world when it comes to
stripping convicted felons of the right to vote. Of the nearly five million people
who were barred from participating in the last presidential election, for example,
1

See Point II. B.

most, if not all, would have been free to vote if they had been citizens of any one
of dozens of other nations. Many of those nations cherish the franchise so deeply
that they let inmates vote from their prison cells.
The individual disfranchised Petitioners are joined by others including the leading
organizations of black and brown communities in New Jersey - the New Jersey State
Conference of the NAACP and the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. They are
also joined as Petitioners by two members of the City Council of Elizabeth, New Jersey,
a major urban center with a large racial minority population.
Petitioners challenged New Jersey’s practice of denying suffrage to convicted
felons on parole and probation, alleging that the practice denied them Equal Protection of
the Laws under the New Jersey Constitution because of its discriminatory and disparate
impact on the African-American and Latino electorate in the State. Both trial and
appellate courts dismissed the Complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief could
be granted, and the New Jersey Supreme Court denied the petition for appeal to that
court.
Petitioners, after exhausting all available judicial remedies at the domestic level,
now bring their claims to this Honorable Commission. Petitioners’ claims constitute
violations of some of most fundamental rights protected under the American Declaration
on the Rights and Duty of Man, including the right to vote (Article XX), the right to be
free from racial discrimination (Article II) and the right to rehabilitation (Articles I and
XVII), rights long recognized under international human rights law and explicitly
protected by the Declaration.
Petitioners’ situation is not isolated – 19 other U.S. states and the District of
Columbia have disfranchisement policies that are less sweeping than New Jersey’s; 19

have the exact same policies; and another 12 exclude even more categories of persons
from the franchise than the State of New Jersey. Only two of the 50 U.S. states permit
voting in prison, a practice embraced by at least 8 OAS states and nearly one-half of
Europe’s nations. Notably, those states, Maine and Vermont, are far more racially
homogeneous than the rest of the country, and have larger Caucasian prison populations
than the rest of the U.S.
Petitioners request, inter alia, that the State of New Jersey bring its
disfranchisement law and policies into line with internationally recognized standards by
amending its laws to permit post-incarceration voting; that all 35 U.S. states with any
post-incarceration restrictions on voting be made to remove restrictions that fail to
comport with international standards; and that the federal government enact
comprehensive voting rights legislation which complies with international voting rights
standards; specifically, legislation that would extend the right to vote to persons with
federal felony convictions who have completed the incarcerative portion of their
sentences. Finally, Petitioners ask that courts and public defenders be made to advise
defendants who are pleading guilty and those being sentenced for disfranchising crimes if
and when they will lose the right to vote, and the procedures for how they might gain
restoration of that fundamental right.
II.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A.

The Law of Felon Disfranchisement in New Jersey

New Jersey Statute 19:4-1(8) provides that:
No person shall have the right of suffrage . . . . [w]ho is serving a sentence or is
on parole or probation as the result of a conviction of any indictable offense under

the laws of this or another state or of the United States.
That statute was passed pursuant to Article 2, ¶7 of the Constitution of New Jersey,
which provides as follows:
The Legislature may pass laws to deprive persons of the right of suffrage who
shall be convicted of such crimes as it may designate.2
B.

As a Consequence of Racial Profiling In the State of New Jersey, a Greatly
Disproportionate Number of Members of the Minority Community Have
Been Disfranchised
The consequences of the disfranchisement law have been drastic for the African-

American and Latino populations of New Jersey. The data is clear that AfricanAmericans and Latinos are investigated, prosecuted, convicted, sentenced and thereby
disfranchised at rates substantially greater than non-Hispanic white persons – and at rates
greatly in excess of their propensity to commit crime.
The United States Census for the year 2000 reported that African-Americans
constituted 13.6 percent of the New Jersey population and Hispanics approximately 13.3
percent. In contrast, African-Americans constitute more than 63 percent of the current
prison population, more than 60 percent of persons on parole and approximately 37
percent of probationers; and Hispanics make up approximately 18 percent of the prison
population, about 20 percent of parolees and more than 15 percent of those on probation.
Collectively, African-Americans and Hispanics make up 81 percent of New Jersey’s
prison population, more than 75 percent of those on parole and more than 52 percent of
probationers. In contrast, non-Hispanic whites constitute some 72.6 percent of the State’s
total population, but only 19 percent of prisoners and parolees, and 41 percent of those on

Plaintiffs had argued in the underlying New Jersey case that a law enacted pursuant to a constitutional
delegation of authority, unlike a direct constitutional prohibition, was subject to Equal Protection analysis.
But the New Jersey courts rejected that argument.

probation.
According to the Urban Institute of Justice, in 2002, 75 percent of prisoners being
released from state prisons to New Jersey communities were either African-American (62
percent) or Hispanic (13 percent).3
From 1977 to 2002, the prison population in New Jersey quadrupled to more than
27,000. In 1980, 3,910 offenders were released from New Jersey prisons. In 2001,
14,849 offenders were released from New Jersey prisons.4 From 1980 until 2002, the
incarceration rate in New Jersey increased from 76 to 331 per 100,000 persons. In 2002,
white males were incarcerated at a rate of 161 per 100,000 persons; African-American
males were incarcerated at a rate of 2,117 per 100,000; and Hispanic males were
incarcerated at a rate of 759 per 100,000 persons.5
As a consequence, New Jersey has raised its budget spending on the criminal
justice system due to the high incarceration rates. In the fiscal year 1983, the state spent
$200 million and the budget expanded to $1.1 billion in the fiscal year 2003.6 According
to the Urban Institute, approximately 70,000 offenders were expected to return from state
prisons to New Jersey from 2002 to 2007. These offenders are 62 percent AfricanAmerican. Nearly one-third, or 31 percent, of offenders returning to New Jersey after
incarceration return to either Camden County or Essex County, which have the highest
proportion of African-Americans in the State. This data, and its source is set forth in
detail in an amicus brief filed in the New Jersey state courts by the New Jersey Institute
3

Travis, Keegan, Cadora, Solomon & Swartz, A Portrait of Prisoner Reentry in New Jersey, Urban
Institute Justice Policy Center Research Report (2003). Precise figures in all these categories are difficult
to come by because of discrepant accounting methods by the government agencies involved.
4
Id. at 22.
5
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear, 2001, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.
6
Travis, Prison Reentry.

for Social Justice attached as Exhibit A.
Like most states in the United States, New Jersey’s Department of Corrections
monitors the parole system on a local level with district offices throughout the state.
Probation is supervised on a county level and serves as an alternative to prison for some
offenders. A probationer is assigned to a probation officer who monitors the
probationers’ community supervision and ensures that the probationer adheres to the
specific rules of conduct established by the court. In 2004, there were 85,186
disfranchised felony probationers in New Jersey.7 And in 2001, the State of New Jersey
Administrative Office of the Courts reported that of the 69,559 persons on probation at
that time, more than 52 percent were African-American or Hispanic and 41 percent were
non-Hispanic whites.
Unlike a probationer, a parolee is an offender who is released on parole after
serving a prison term. The offender is required to be supervised upon his/her return to the
community as part of his conditional release. If the parolee violates his/her conditional
release, the parolee may be sent back to prison depending on the court’s discretion or the
parole officer’s discretion. In 2004, the New Jersey Department of Corrections oversaw
14,180 parolees,8 whose racial composition reflected the population of the prisons from
which they were released.
Unlike in 19 other states and the District of Columbia, ex-offenders on parole or
probation in New Jersey may not vote. The vastly disproportionate extent to which racial
minorities are under the supervision of the criminal justice system – and thus denied the
right to vote – results in large measure from the well-acknowledged discriminatory
7

Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy, 9
(2006), Table A3.3, at page 249.
8 Travis, Prisoner Reentry.

application of the criminal laws. The wide latitude given to individual police officers,
prosecutors, judges and juries to exercise discretion allows discriminatory animus and
racial stereotypes to influence administration of the criminal laws of New Jersey to the
detriment of African-Americans and Latinos.
In particular, African-Americans are substantially more likely to be stopped by
the police while driving on New Jersey roads and highways than are whites - a
disproportionate likelihood that has no other explanation than the conscious or
unconscious decisions of police officers to especially target African-American motorists.9
For example, statistics compiled by the New Jersey State Police between 1994 and 1998
show that four out of every ten stops made by State Police attached to the Moorestown
and Cranbury stations involved a minority motorist.10 Most significantly, the rate of
traffic stops targeting minority motorists escalated substantially as police officers were
allowed discretion as to whom to stop. The Radar Unit (which stops vehicles according
to radar monitoring) issued 18 percent of its tickets to African-Americans, while the
Patrol Unit (which exercises discretion in traffic stops) issued over 34 percent of its
tickets to African-Americans. South of Exit 3 of the New Jersey Turnpike, the Radar unit
issued 19.1 percent of its tickets to African-Americans, while the Patrol Unit issued 43.8
percent of its tickets to African-Americans. With the increase in discretion granted to
police officers, the rate of traffic stops of African-Americans increased dramatically in
comparison to stops based on neutral data such as radar readings. This demonstrates the
prevalence of conscious or unconscious profiling in decisions by police about which
persons to be subject to stops and investigations.
9

Interim Report of the New Jersey State Police Review Team Regarding Alternatives of Racial Profiling,
April 20, 1999 (hereinafter “Veniero Report”) at 26, available at http://www.state.nj.us/lps/intm_419.pdf
10
Id. at 33.

African-Americans and Hispanics are also substantially more likely to be subject
to a consent search than whites. According to statistics compiled by the New Jersey State
Police between 1994 and 1998, nearly eight out of every ten consent searches conducted
by the New Jersey State Police from the Moorestown and Cranbury police stations
involved minority motorists. A consent search is one where police officers ask
permission to conduct a search. Such searches have been recently ruled unconstitutional
by the New Jersey Supreme Court because they are inherently coercive.11
Similar race disparities exist throughout the New Jersey system, as officially
acknowledged by the New Jersey courts, police and Attorney General’s office:
(A) In State v. Soto, a New Jersey state court found that African American
“defendants have proven at least a de facto policy on the part of the State Police
out of the Moorestown Station of targeting blacks for investigation and arrest . . .
The statistical disparities and standard deviations revealed are stark indeed . . .
The utter failure of the [New Jersey] State Police hierarchy to monitor and control
a crackdown program [….] or investigate the many claims of institutional
discrimination manifests its indifference if not acceptance.”12
(B) The findings of the Court in Soto were acknowledged and expanded
upon in the Veniero Report. That Report found:
(1) “[T]he underlying conditions that foster disparate treatment of
minorities have existed for decades in New Jersey . . . and will not be changed
overnight.”13
(2) “Despite these efforts and official policies to address the issue of racial
11

State v. Steven J. Carty, 170 N.J. 632, 790 A.2d 903 (2002).
324 N.J. Super. 66, 84-85 (Law Div., Gloucester County, 1996).
13
Veniero Report at 112.
12

profiling, based upon the information that we reviewed, minority motorists have
been treated differently than non-minority motorists during the course of traffic
stops in the New Jersey Turnpike. For the reasons set out in this report we
conclude that the problem of disparate treatment is real not imagined.”14
(3) “We are thus presented with data that suggest that minority motorists
are disproportionately subject to searches (eight out of every ten consent searches
conducted by troopers assigned to the Moorestown and Cranbury stations
involved minority motorists).”15
(4) In the period from 1996 to 1998, the State Police from the Newark,
Moorestown and Cranbury stations made a total of 2,871 arrests for “more serious
offenses” (generally excluding traffic, including drunk driving arrests). Of these,
932 (32.5%) involved white persons; 1,772 (61.7%) involved black persons, and
167 (5.8%) involved persons of other races.16 As the Report then noted: “The fact
that the arrest rates for whites was comparatively low does not mean that white
motorists are less likely to be transporting drugs, but that they were less likely to
be suspected of being drug traffickers in the first place, and, thus, less likely to be
subjected to probing investigative tactics designed to confirm suspicions of
criminal activity such as, notably, being asked to consent to a search.”17
(5) Despite efforts by the State Police to curb racial profiling, the practice
continued into the 21st Century, according to the testimony of New Jersey
Attorney General John Farmer before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 3,

Id. at 4.
Id. at 6-7.
16
Id. at 36.
17
Id. at 32.
15

2001 (“Farmer Testimony”). For example, Farmer testified that a study of Troop
D in early 2001 showed that white drivers were subjected to consent searches 19
percent of the time, while blacks were at 53 percent and Hispanics at 25 percent.
“Thus, blacks and Hispanics were subjected to consent searches at rates higher
than their presence on the road and higher than their stop rates.”18
The Soto decision and New Jersey Racial Profiling Report acknowledged that the
criminal justice system in New Jersey is racially biased. This racial bias is reflected
starkly in the arrest and incarceration of drug offenders. Statistics show that police focus
disproportionately on members of the minority community in making drug arrests. Drug
arrests and convictions have had an especially disproportionate impact on AfricanAmericans and Hispanics, even though African-Americans and Hispanics do not use
illegal drugs any more frequently than whites. Figures indicate that in 1982, 12 percent
of New Jersey’s prisoners were drug offenders, and 31 percent of the inmates were white.
In 2001, 34 percent of the New Jersey prison population was drug offenders and only 18
percent of the prison population was white. The New Jersey Department of Corrections
attributes this disparity to the impact of the 1986 Comprehensive Drug Reform Act. The
Act led to targeting of inner-city neighborhoods where the population is overwhelmingly
minority. Between 1986 and 1999, the rate at which African-Americans were
incarcerated for drug offenses increased by 475 percent, while the rate at which whites
were incarcerated for drug offenses increased by only 112 percent.
National research shows that whites and African-Americans use illegal drugs at
similar rates. By disproportionately excluding from the electorate so many African
Americans and Latinos, felon disfranchisement significantly dilutes the political power of
18

Farmer Testimony at 16.

those constituencies. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2002, 8.5
percent of whites, and 9.7 percent of African-Americans reported using illegal drugs in
the preceding month, and 9.3 percent of whites, and 9.5 percent of African-Americans
reported themselves to be dependent on an illicit substance. In New Jersey, a survey is
conducted every three years by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice among high
school students, leading to the publication of results under the title, "Drug and Alcohol
Use Among New Jersey High School Students." Those reports have consistently found
higher percentage rates of reported usage of illicit substances by white New Jersey high
school students than by African American and Hispanic high school students. The 1999
report found that 46.7 percent of white high school students reported marijuana use
compared to 40.1 percent of African American high school students, and 36.3 percent of
Hispanic high school students. Similarly, 8.6 percent of white high school students
reported cocaine use, compared to 2.4 percent of African American students and 6.4
percent of Hispanic students.19
Young people of color have particularly suffered from disparate incarceration for
drug offenses. The rate of increase of imprisonment between 1986 and 1999 for
African-American youth was 646 percent, compared to 186 percent for white youths.
The result is that an entire generation of minority youths cannot participate in the
democratic process. Moreover, it creates an underclass of disaffected and alienated
19

Although white and minority youths sell and use drugs at about the same rate, black youths are 25 times
more likely to end up being incarcerated for drug-related crimes. In at least 15 states, remarkably, black
males in general were imprisoned on drug charges at rates anywhere from 25 to 57 times those of white
men, thereby making up, nationwide, fully 74 percent of those incarcerated for drug offenses. Elizabeth A.
Hull, The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons, at 25 (2006) (citing “U.S. Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking
Racial Disparities,” Human Rights Watch Worlds Reporter, Feb. 27, 2002,
jttp://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/race.

citizens who may never participate in the voting process.
Although recent reforms and judicial supervision of State Police practices have no
doubt ameliorated the discriminatory implementation of the laws, it will take generations
to undo the impact the unequal and unjustified incarceration rates have imposed on the
minority community.
C.

Disfranchisement of Ex-Offenders Released From Prison Is a National
Problem in The United States
The disfranchisement of ex-offenders is not unique to the State of New Jersey.

Currently, more than five million U.S. citizens are prohibited from voting because they
have been convicted of a felony offense.1 In nearly every state of the U.S., persons who
are currently serving jail time for felony crimes are denied the right to vote.2 In addition,
over two million Americans who have already served their prison sentences continue to
be disfranchised.3 In Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia, ex-felons can never regain their
right to vote.4 People with felony convictions on parole cannot vote in thirty-six states,
while felony probationers are denied the franchise in thirty-one states.5 In several U.S.
states, even the commission of a misdemeanor is a bar to voting.6
U.S. criminal disfranchisement policies stand in stark contrast to those of most
other democratic nations, many of which allow prisoners to vote.7 In fact, through its
harsh felon disfranchisement laws, the United States “aligns itself with countries whose

The Sentencing Project, Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States, 1, available at:
http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/1046.pdf (Aug. 2006).
2
Maine and Vermont are the only two states that allow incarcerated felons to vote. Id.
3
Id.
4
Id. at 3.
5
Id.
6
Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy, 9
(2006).
7
Elizabeth A. Hull, The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons, 81 (2006).

commitment to progressive values is less evident, such as Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Jordan,
Libya, and Pakistan.”8
Furthermore, U.S. felon disfranchisement laws have disproportionately and
overwhelmingly impacted communities of color. Thirteen percent of all black males are
currently deprived of the right to vote. This rate is “seven times the national average”
rate of disfranchisement.9 Over the last twenty years, the “war on drugs” has further
exacerbated this trend. Despite similar rates of drug use, young black males “are twentyfive times more likely” than young white males to serve time for drug-related offenses.10
If current incarceration rates continue, “three in ten of the next generation of black men
can expect to be disfranchised at some point in their lifetime.”11
Although several states have recently passed laws to restore voting rights to exfelons12, many of these initiatives require mandatory waiting periods of up to seven years
and involve cumbersome and confusing application processes.13 In many of these states,
felons are never informed of their right to re-enfranchisement upon leaving prison.14 In
others, eligibility review is so understaffed and poorly administered that ex-felons have to
wait years for a decision.15 Worse still, while some states have moved in recent years to
re-enfranchise ex-felons, probationers, and parolees, Utah and Massachusetts (through
Constitutional Amendment) and Kansas (through legislation) have limited these groups’
voting rights.16

Id. at 81-82.
Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States at 1.
10
Hull at 25.
11
Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States at 1.
12
Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States at 2.
13
Hull at 152.
14
Id.
15
Id. at 153.
16
Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States at 2.
9

Facts About the Petitioners
The two lead Petitioners, the New Jersey State Conference of the NAACP and the

Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, represent their respective communities.
Petitioner NEW JERSEY STATE CONFERENCE NAACP (hereinafter New
Jersey NAACP), is an unincorporated, nonprofit affiliate of the national NAACP. Keith
Jones is the New Jersey NAACP president. The NAACP is a voluntary association
committed to the improvement of the status of minority groups, the elimination of
discriminatory practices and the achievement of civil rights. The NAACP, founded in
1909, seeks to ensure political, educational, social, and economic equality of minority
group citizens in the United States. As the oldest and largest civil rights organization in
the United States, the NAACP has a long history of involvement in protecting the voting
rights of African Americans and challenging racial discrimination. The disfranchisement
of ex-felons on parole and probation impacts particularly harshly on the voting rights of
black men, who constitute a significantly disproportionate percentage of prison inmates
and released prisoners in New Jersey. The New Jersey NAACP brings this action on
behalf of its members who are released felons who want to register to vote but are unable
to do so under the current law, and on behalf of the entire African American community
of New Jersey, whose ability to participate equally in the political process and to elect to
public office candidates of their choice is hampered by the impact of the law.
Petitioner LATINO LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEW JERSEY (hereinafter
“LLA”) is a voluntary association whose purpose is to improve the status of
Hispanic/Latino Americans, in part by working to end discriminatory practices. A part of
its mission is the election of candidates, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, with a

demonstrated track record of support for issues that matter to Hispanics. The LLA has
local affiliation in Union County and throughout New Jersey.
Petitioner PATRICIA PERKINS-AUGUSTE is an African-American citizen of
voting age actively involved in electoral and civic affairs in Union County, New Jersey.
She is a member of the Elizabeth City Council. She has a strong interest in increasing
voter registration and participation among African-Americans in Elizabeth, Union
County, and New Jersey in order to advance and protect the ability of members of the
African-American community to enjoy life, liberty, safety and happiness as promised by
the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.
Petitioner CARLOS J. ALMA is an Hispanic citizen of voting age actively
involved in electoral and civic affairs in Union County, New Jersey. He is currently in his
fifth year as a member of the Elizabeth City Council. He has a strong interest in
increasing voter registration and participation among Hispanics in Union County and
New Jersey in order to advance and protect the ability of members of the Latino
community to enjoy life, liberty, safety and happiness as promised by the Constitution of
the State of New Jersey.
Petitioner MICHAEL MACKASON, is an African-American of lawful voting
age, a citizen of the United States and a legal resident of New Jersey. He is currently on
parole, and thus pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:4-1(8), is not entitled to vote. Mr. Mackason has
been on parole since his release from a rehabilitation center in 2002, and will remain on
parole until 2008 with the possibility of early release. Mr. Mackason is a law-abiding
citizen, employed as the Program Manager at Youth Build-Newark, an educational and
trades program focusing on out-of-school youth. He is also a part-time computer literacy

instructor at Essex Community College and a board member of a local community
development program. Mr. Mackason is seeking the right to vote because he would like
to more fully participate in the political system. He wishes to address current and
proposed legislation on issues that he believes need more vocal support than they
presently receive. Re-enfranchisement would permit Mr. Mackason to share his support
and dissent on issues that he feels strongly about through the voting process.
Petitioner DANA THOMPSON is an African-American of lawful voting age, a
citizen of the United States, and a legal resident of New Jersey. Mr. Thompson was
sentenced in 2001 to three concurrent sentences of 364 days and placed on three years
probation. He was convicted of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and
leaving the scene of an accident. Mr. Thompson’s probation ended in 2005, making him
recently eligible to vote pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:4-1. He is gainfully employed as the sole
proprietor of his own construction company in Piscataway. He is also a volunteer at the
New Jersey Institute of Social Justice and “New Careers,” a program providing job
training to parolees in Essex County. Mr. Thompson also participates in Christian prison
ministry. He is most interested in participating in the electoral process to support issues
like incentives for start-up minority businesses, the rehabilitation of ex-offenders, local
economic development initiatives, and the reform of the criminal justice system.
Petitioner CHARLES THOMAS is an African-American of lawful voting age, a
citizen of the United States and a legal resident of the state of New Jersey. Mr. Thomas
is currently serving parole and thus pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:4-1 (8), is not entitled to vote.
Mr. Thomas has been on parole from a life sentence since his release from both the
Trenton and Rahway Prison in 2000. Mr. Thomas was 18 years old at the time of the

crime, and is on life-time parole. Thus, he was never eligible to vote, and, pursuant to his
statue, he never will be. He is a law-abiding citizen, employed as a treatment coordinator
for Volunteers of America, an organization based in Camden, N.J. Mr. Thomas seeks the
right to vote because, as a homeowner, as a taxpayer, and as a member of the community,
he believes in no taxation without representation. Re-enfranchisement would allow Mr.
Thomas to share his opinion on issues about which he believes he should be concerned
about as both a community member and father, such as how the local school is being
managed.
Petitioner STACEY KINDT is an activist of lawful voting age, a citizen of the
United States and a legal resident of New Jersey. She is currently on parole until
December 27, 2007, and thus pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:4-1(8), is not able to vote. She is a
director at Redeem Her, an organization committed to helping woman who either are or
have been imprisoned by changing the preconceptions that society has about women in
prison in general, by providing positive role models to her sisters who are still
incarcerated, and by providing a diversity of social services programs where the
community and ex-offenders join together to meet the tangible, practical needs of
incarcerated and recently-released women. Mrs. Kindt believes that disfranchisement
inhibits women parolees to be reintegrated with society. She is actively involved in her
community, but her inability to vote makes her feel that she is not good enough to be a
member. Mrs. Kindt wants the right to vote to express her opinion on views such as
political corruption and welfare reform. Exhibit D.
E.

Procedural History
Petitioners’ class complaint was filed on January 6, 2004 in the Superior Court of

New Jersey, Chancery Division, Union County, challenging New Jersey’s practice of
denying suffrage to convicted felons on parole and probation. The Complaint alleged
that the practice denied Equal Protection of the Laws under the New Jersey Constitution
because of its discriminatory and disparate impact on the African-American and Latino
electorate in the State.
The Plaintiffs were the New Jersey State Conference/NAACP, the Latino
Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, Elizabeth City Council members Patricia PerkinsAuguste and Carlos Alma, and ten New Jersey residents who at the time were on either
parole or probation.
The trial court dismissed the Complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief
could be granted, with a written opinion on July 12, 2004. The case was appealed. It was
argued in the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court on September 27,
2005. The appeal was dismissed with a written opinion on November 2, 2005. Plaintiffs
filed a timely Petition for Certification in the New Jersey Supreme Court on December 1,
2005. The Supreme Court denied the petition with an Order filed on March 16, 2006.
III.
ADMISSIBILITY
A.

Petitioners Have Properly Exhausted Domestic Remedies.

Article 31 of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (“Commission”) sets forth as a prerequisite for admissibility that the “remedies of
the domestic legal system have been pursued and exhausted in accordance with the

generally recognized principles of international law.”20 Petitioners presented their claims
that laws in the State of New Jersey denying suffrage to convicted felons on parole and
probation violated Petitioners’ right to equal protection of the laws under the State
Constitution because of its discriminatory and disparate impact on the African-American
and Latino electorate in the State. On July 12, 2004, the Chancery Division of the
Superior Court dismissed the claims. Petitioners filed a timely appeal of the decision and
on November 2, 2005, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court delivered an opinion,
dismissing the appeal on largely the same grounds as the trial court. Petitioners sought
review of this decision by the Supreme Court for the State of New Jersey, the state’s
highest appellate court. By Order filed March 16, 2006, the Supreme Court exercised its
discretion not to review the lower court decisions. In denying review, the Supreme Court
let the findings of the lower courts stand and ended the Petitioners’ ability to challenge
their disfranchisement. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Constitution
grants the states the right to deny the vote to people with felony convictions. Richardson
v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24 (1974). Petitioners have thus exhausted their domestic
individual remedies. They cannot seek review in any court within the United States –
state or federal. Accordingly, this Commission has jurisdiction to review this Petition.
B.

Petitioners Have Filed This Petition Within Six Months From the Exhaustion
of Domestic Remedies.
Petitioners also meet the terms of Article 32(1) of the Commission’s Rules of

Procedure, which require that petitions “are lodged within a period of six-months
following the date on which the alleged victim has been notified of the decision that

Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, approved 4-8 Dec. 2000,
amended 7-25 Oct., 2002 and 7-24 Oct., 2003, art. 31 [hereinafter Rules of Procedure].

exhausted the domestic remedies.”21 As the six-month deadline on Petitioners state law
constitutional claims will not expire until September 16, 2006 (six months after the State
Supreme Court’s denial to review the case) this petition meets the timeliness
requirements of Article 32(1).
C.

There Are No Parallel Proceedings Pending.
Article 33 of the Rules of Procedure renders a petition inadmissible if its subject

matter “is pending settlement pursuant to another procedure before an international
governmental organization . . . or, . . . essentially duplicates a petition pending or already
examined and settled by the Commission or by another international governmental
organization . . . .”22 The subject of this petition is not pending settlement and does not
duplicate any other petition in any other international proceeding.
D.

The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man Is Binding on the
United States.
As the United States is not a party to the Inter-American Convention on Human

Rights (“American Convention”) it is the Charter of the Organization of American States
(“OAS Charter”) and the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man
(“American Declaration”) that establish the human rights standards applicable in this
case. Signatories to the OAS Charter are bound by its provisions,23 and the General
Assembly of the OAS has repeatedly recognized the American Declaration as a source of

Rules of Procedure, art. 32(1).
Rules of Procedure, art. 33.
23
Charter of the Organization of American States, 119 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force December 13, 1951;
amended by Protocol of Buenos Aires, 721 U.N.T.S. 324, O.A.S. Treaty Series, No. 1-A, entered into force
Feb. 27, 1970; amended by Protocol of Cartagena, O.A.S. Treaty Series, No. 66, 25 I.L.M. 527, entered
into force Nov. 16, 1988; amended by Protocol of Washington, 1-E Rev. OEA Documentos Oficiales
OEA/Ser.A/2 Add. 3 (SEPF), 33 I.L.M. 1005, entered into force September 25, 1997; amended by Protocol
of Managua, 1-F Rev. OEA Documentos Oficiales OEA/Ser.A/2 Add.4 (SEPF), 33 I.L.M. 1009, entered
into force January 29, 1996. See also I/A Comm. H.R., James Terry Roach and Jay Pinkerton v. United
States, Case 9647, Res. 3/87, 22 September 1987, Annual Report 1986-87, ¶ 46.
22

international legal obligation for OAS member states including specifically the United
States.24 This principle has been affirmed by the Inter-American Court, which has found
that that the “Declaration contains and defines the fundamental human rights referred to
in the Charter,”25 as well as the Commission, which recognizes the American Declaration
as a “source of international obligations” for OAS member states.26
Moreover, the Commission’s Rules of Procedure establish that the Commission is
the body empowered to supervise OAS member states’ compliance with the human rights
norms contained in the OAS Charter and the American Declaration. Specifically, Article
23 of the Commission’s Rules provides that “[a]ny person . . . legally recognized in one
or more of the Member States of the OAS may submit petitions to the Commission . . .
concerning alleged violations of a human right recognized in . . . the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,”27 and Articles 49 and 50 of the
Commission’s Rules confirm that such petitions may contain denunciations of alleged
human rights violations by OAS member states that are not parties to the American
Convention on Human Rights.28 Likewise, Articles 18 and 20 of the Commission’s
Statute specifically direct the Commission to receive, examine, and make
recommendations concerning alleged human rights violations committed by any OAS
member state, and “to pay particular attention” to the observance of certain key

See, e.g., OAS General Assembly Resolution 314 (VII-0/77) (June 22, 1977) (charging the InterAmerican Commission with the preparation of a study to “set forth their obligation to carry out the
commitments assumed in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man).
25
I/A Court H.R., Advisory Opinion OC-10/89, July 14, 1989, "Interpretation of the American Declaration
of the Rights and Duties of Man within the Framework of Article 64 of the American Convention on Human
Rights," Ser. A Nº 10, ¶43, 45.
26
See e.g., Report No. 74/90, Case 9850, Hector Geronimo Lopez Aurelli (Argentina), Annual Report of
the IACHR 1990, ¶. III.6 (quoting I/A Court H.R., Advisory Opinion OC-10/89, ¶ 45); see also Mary and
Carrie Dann v. United States, Case 11.140, Report No. 75/02, December 27, 2002, ¶ 163.
27
Rules of Procedure , art. 23 (2000).
28
Rules of Procedure, arts. 49, 50 (2000).

provisions of the American Declaration by states that are not party to the American
Convention including significantly the right to life and the right to equality before law,
protected by Articles I and II respectively.
Finally, the Commission itself has consistently asserted its general authority to
“supervis[e] member states’ observance of human rights in the Hemisphere,” including
those rights prescribed under the American Declaration, and specifically as against the
United States.29
In sum, all OAS member states, including the United States, are legally bound by
the provisions contained in the American Declaration. Here, Petitioners have alleged
violations of the American Declaration and the Commission has the necessary authority
to adjudicate them.
E.

The Interpretative Mandate of the Commission
International tribunals, including the Inter-American Court and Commission, have

repeatedly found that international human rights instruments must be interpreted in light
of the evolving norms of human rights law expressed in the domestic, regional, and
international contexts. Over thirty-five years ago, the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
pronounced, “an international instrument must be interpreted and applied within the
overall framework of the juridical system in force at the time of the interpretation.”30
More recently, the Inter-American Court, in considering the relationship between
the American Declaration and the American Convention, referenced this ruling in its
29

Detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Request for Precautionary Measures, Inter-Am. C.H.R. (March 13,
2002) at 2. See also I/A Comm. H.R., James Terry Roach and Jay Pinkerton v. United States, Case 9647,
Res. 3/87, 22 September 1987, Annual Report 1986-87, ¶¶ 46-49 (affirming that, pursuant to the
Commission’s statute, the Commission “is the organ of the OAS entrusted with the competence to promote
the observance of and respect for human rights”).
30
Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West
Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, 21 June 1971.

finding that “to determine the legal status of the American Declaration it is appropriate to
look to the inter-American system of today in light of the evolution it has undergone
since the adoption of the Declaration, rather than to examine the normative value and
significance which that instrument was believed to have had in 1948.”31 Again, in 1999,
the Court reasserted the importance of maintaining an “evolutive interpretation” of
international human rights instruments under the general rules of treaty interpretation
established in the 1969 Vienna Convention.32 Following this reasoning, the Court
subsequently found that the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, having been
ratified by almost all OAS member states, reflects a broad international consensus (opinio
juris) on the principles contained therein, and thus could be used to interpret not only the
American Convention but also other treaties relevant to human rights in the Americas.33
The Commission has also consistently embraced this principle and specifically in
relation to its interpretation of the American Declaration. For example, in the Villareal
case, the Commission recently noted that “in interpreting and applying the American
Declaration, it is necessary to consider its provisions in the context of developments in
the field of international human rights law since the Declaration was first composed and
with due regard to other relevant rules of international law applicable to member states
against which complaints of violations of the Declaration are properly lodged.
Developments in the corpus of international human rights law relevant in interpreting and

I/A Court H.R., Advisory Opinion, supra note 159, ¶ 37.
I/A Court H.R., Advisory Opinion OC-16/99, October 1, 1999, “The Right to Information on Consular
Assistance in the Framework of the Guarantees of the Due Process of Law,” Ser. A No. 16, ¶¶ 114-15
(citing, inter alia, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Tryer v. United Kingdom
(1978), Marckx v. Belgium (1979), and Louizidou v. Turkey (1995)); see also I/A Court H.R., Advisory
Opinion OC-18/03, September 17, 2003, “Juridical Condition and Rights of the Undocumented Migrants,”
Ser. A No. 18, ¶ 120 (citing Advisory Opinion OC-16/99.).
33
I/A Court H.R., Advisory Opinion OC-17/2002, August 28, 2002, “Juridical Status and Human Rights of
the Child,” Ser. A No. 17, ¶¶ 29-30.
32

applying the American Declaration may in turn be drawn from the provisions of other
prevailing international and regional human rights instruments.”34 Adopting this
approach the Commission has looked to numerous international and regional treaties as
well as decisions of international bodies to interpret rights under the American
Declaration.35
IV.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS & LEGAL ANALYSIS
A.

New Jersey Felon Disfranchisement Law Violates Article XX of the
American Declaration.
Article XX of the American Declaration, as interpreted in light of universal and

regional human rights law, as well as widespread state practice, establishes that
individual Petitioners should be permitted to vote. As U.S. citizens with criminal
convictions who have been judged fit to live in their communities (to complete the nonincarcerative portion of their sentences on parole or to serve their sentences on
probation), they have a right to vote. As demonstrated further below, the State of New
Jersey’s felon disfranchisement laws and policies violate this right. Those laws and
34

Ramón Martinez Villareal v. United States, Case 11.753, Report No. 52/02, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Doc. 5
rev. 1 at 821 (2002) ¶ 60 (citing Garza v. United States, Case Nº 12.243, Annual Report of the IACHR
2000, ¶¶ 88-89); see also Maya Indigenous Community of the Toledo District v. Belize, Case 12.053,
Report No. 40/04, Inter-Am. C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/V/II.122 Doc. 5 rev. 1 at 727 (2004), ¶¶ 86-88; Mary and
Carrie Dann v. United States, Case 11.140, Report No. 75/02,-Am. C.H.R., Doc. 5 rev. 1 at 860 (2002), ¶¶
96-97.
35
See, e.g., IACHR, Report On The Situation Of Human Rights Of Asylum Seekers Within The Canadian
Refugee Determination System, Country Report, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.106, Doc. 40 rev., Feb. 28, 2000, ¶¶ 28,
159, 165 (referencing the U. N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to interpret Canada’s responsibilities
to asylum seekers under the American Declaration and the OAS Charter); Maya Indigenous Community,
supra note 168, ¶¶ 112-120, 163, 174 (referencing the American Convention, jurisprudence of the InterAmerican Court, and the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
to interpret the rights to property, equality before the law, and judicial protection for indigenous peoples
contained in the American Declaration); Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes v. Brazil, Case 12.051, Report
No. 54/01, Inter-Am. C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111 Doc. 20 rev. at 704 (2001) (referring to the InterAmerican Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women
(Convention of Belém do Pará) in determining Brazil’s obligations under the American Declaration to
effectively prosecute domestic violence-related crimes).

policies impose a blanket ban on individual Petitioners’ rights to participate in popular
elections, and thus impose restrictions that violate the American Declaration. The
restrictions are neither legitimate nor proportional in view of the fundamental nature of
the right of people of lawful capacity and age to vote in functioning democratic states.
1.

Article XX Establishes Petitioners’ Right to Participate in Popular
Elections

Article XX of the American Declaration provides that:
Every person having legal capacity is entitled to participate in the government of
his country, directly or through his representatives, and to take part in popular
elections, which shall be by secret ballot, and shall be honest, periodic and free.
Article XX makes clear that the right to vote is fundamental to every citizen who is of
lawful capacity. Article XX poses no restrictions to voting. While Article XX does not
specifically refer to the right to vote for citizens with criminal convictions, its plain and
absolute language makes clear that citizens do not surrender the franchise when they are
convicted. No case has previously been brought before the Commission concerning the
disfranchisement of people with criminal convictions, perhaps because as discussed
herein, felon disfranchisement on the scale it occurs in the U.S. is unique to the U.S.
The Commission has repeatedly cited the importance of respect for political rights
as a guarantee of the validity of the other human rights embodied in international
instruments.36 Moreover, in interpreting Article XX in other voting rights cases, the
Commission has embraced a broad view of suffrage. In these cases, the Commission has
consistently underscored the importance placed by the Inter-American system on
participatory democracy generally, and on the right to vote as an element of participatory
36

Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Paraguay, Inter-Am. C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/V/II.71, Doc. 19
rev. 1, Chapter VII (A), 1987.

democracy specifically. Based on these findings, it is clear that felon disfranchisement
violates Article XX.
For example, in Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States (D.C. Voting
Rights Case), the Commission noted that the right to vote protected by Article XX “ . . .
forms the basis and support of democracy, which cannot exist without it; for title to
government rests with the people, the only body empowered to decide its own immediate
and future destiny and to designate its legitimate representatives.” The Commission also
noted that “[n]either form of political life, nor institutional change, nor development
planning or the control of those who exercise public power can be made without
representative government.”37
Similarly, in its Report on the Situation of Human Rights in El Salvador published
in 1978, the Commission observed that:
The right to take part in the government and participate in honest, periodic, free
elections by secret ballot is of fundamental importance for safeguarding [] human
rights…. The reason for this lies in the fact that, as historical experience has
shown governments derived from the will of the people, expressed in free
elections, are those that provide the soundest guaranty that the basic human rights
will be observed and protected.38
The Commission has also taken the position that the exercise of political rights
“implies participation by the population in the conduct of public affairs, either directly or
through representatives elected in periodic and genuine elections featuring universal
suffrage and secret ballot, to ensure the free expression of the electors’ will.”39
37

Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States, [hereinafter D.C. Voting Rights Case] Case 11.204,
Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report No. 98/03, OEA/Ser./L/V/II.114 Doc. 70 rev. 1 ¶85 (2003).
38
Report on the Situation of Human Rights in El Salvador, Inter-Am. C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/II.85, Doc. 28
rev., Chapter IX [A(1)], (1994).
39
Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Paraguay, Inter-Am. C.H.R., (1987), supra note 25, at
Chapter VII (A), cited in Andres Aylwin Azocar et al. v. Chile, Case 11.863, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report No.
137/99, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.106, doc. 3 rev. at 536 ¶ 40 (1999).

As the Commission is well aware, the Inter-American human rights instruments
consider representative democracy as a more important mechanism for the protection of
human rights than universal human rights instruments. For example, the Charter of the
Organization of American States, the system’s foundational document, provides that
“solidarity of the American states and the high aims which are sought through it require
the political organization of those states on the basis of the effective exercise of
representative democracy.”40 And the Inter-American Democratic Charter recognizes
that an essential element of such representative democracy is “universal suffrage as an
expression of the sovereignty of the people.”41 By contrast, none of the United Nations’
foundational human rights instruments goes this far.
Article XXXII of the American Declaration evidences the importance that the
Inter-American system places on voting and participatory democracy. Article XXXII
makes it “the duty of every person to vote in the popular elections of the country of which
he is a national, when he is legally capable of doing so (emphasis added).”
When read in conjunction, it is clear that Article XX and Article XXXII are meant
to ensure that every citizen in the Americas of lawful capacity be permitted to vote.
Voting is a fundamental right that should not be stripped unnecessarily by any state. By
preventing individual Petitioners (who have been deemed to be ready to integrate into
their communities) from voting, the State of New Jersey is preventing them from being
involved in the democratic process, as required by Article XX. Additionally, the State of

Charter of the Organization of American States, supra note 22, Article 3(d).
Inter-American Democratic Charter, OAS Doc. OEA/SerP/AG/Res.1 (2001); 28th Spec. Sess., OAS
Doc. OEA/Ser.P/AG/RES.1 (XXVIII-E/01) (OAS General Assembly) (Sept. 11, 2001), 40 I.L.M. 1289, art.
3 (2001).
41

New Jersey is also depriving them of their fundamental duty to vote, guaranteed by
Article XXXII.
Consistent with its interpretive mandate, the Commission, in interpreting the
rights protected by Article XX may look to analogous provisions of the American
Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”). That provision, Article 23, provides:
1.

Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities:
a.
b.
c.

To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through
freely chosen representatives;
To vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which
shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that
guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters; and
To have access, under general conditions of equality, to the
public service of his country.

The law may regulate the exercise of the rights and opportunities referred to in the
preceding paragraph only on the basis of age, nationality, residence, language,
education, civil and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in
criminal proceedings.
Although subsection (2) permits member states to regulate the right to vote on the

basis of “sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings” (indicating that
member states may impose certain restrictions on the voting rights of people with
criminal convictions), no such restriction appears in the Declaration’s equivalent. This
Commission should refrain from interpreting Article XX to incorporate such a restriction
for the following reasons. First and most importantly, it is the provisions of the
Declaration, and not the Convention that are binding on the United States. Second, it is a
long established principle of treaty interpretation that where two possible interpretations
of a treaty provision are possible, one that is restrictive of rights and the other more
protective, the interpretation that reflects the treaty’s object and purpose should be

adopted. Because the overall purpose of the Declaration is to protect the right to vote,
restrictions on the right should not be lightly inferred.42 And, finally, despite the
apparently restrictive language of subsection 2, the Commission has repeatedly
interpreted its provisions to require states parties to respect and ensure the overarching
right to vote protected by subsection 1 of Article 23.43 Incorporating a condition that
permits member states a broad mandate to restrict the voting right of parolees and
probationers would be incompatible with such an interpretation.
In sum, Article XX of the American Declaration protects the right of everyone to
vote including persons, such as the individual Petitioners here who have been convicted
of a criminal offense and released on parole, or are serving their criminal sentences on
probation. Because New Jersey disfranchisement law imposes a blanket ban on such
persons, it violates Article XX of the American Declaration.
2.

Any Restrictions on the Right to Vote Protected by Article XX Must
Be Objective, Reasonable and Proportional.

Even if this Commission were to interpret Article XX to incorporate a restriction
the equivalent of Article 23(2) of the American Convention, as the Commission has
found, any restriction on the right to vote must be objective, reasonable and proportional.
Additionally, the restriction must not have the effect of eviscerating the essence of the

See e.g., Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, art. 31, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331, 8 I.L.M. 679, entered
into force January 27, 1980 (treaty to be “interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning
to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of their object and purpose.”). The
U.S. recognizes a similar interpretive principle in construing conflicting provisions of U.S. criminal
statutes. See, e.g., U.S. v. RLC, 503 U.S. 291 (1992) (under so-called rule of lenity, the intended scope of
an ambiguous criminal statute must be interpreted in favor of the accused).
43
See e.g., Mena v. Mexico, Case 10.956, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report No. 14/93 (1993) (reviewed alleged
voting irregularities); Andres Aylwin Azocar et al. v. Chile, Inter-Am. C.H.R., (1999), (finding that the
structure of the Chilean constitution denies the right to equality in voting without discrimination); and D.C.
Voting Rights Case, Inter-Am. C.H.R., (2003) (finding a violation of the right to equal voting status for
District of Columbia citizens).

fundamental right to vote. New Jersey disfranchisement law has precisely this impact on
individual Petitioners’ rights to vote. Accordingly, for this reason alone, New Jersey
disfranchisement law violates Article XX. In interpreting Article 23, the Commission
requires member states to demonstrate that any laws impinging on the right to vote
comply with certain minimum standards or conditions that have the effect of preserving
the essence of the right to vote. The Commission’s role in evaluating the effectiveness of
the right is to ensure that any differential treatment applied in relation to voting rights is
both objective and reasonable.44 Under this analysis, certain restrictions on voting rights
are permissible. For example, member states may enact voting laws that draw distinctions
between different situations so long as they are pursuing legitimate ends, and the
classification is reasonably and fairly related to the ends pursued by the law in issue.45
For example, it would not be discriminatory to impose, on the grounds of age or social
status, limits on the legal capacity of minors or mentally incompetent persons who lack
the capacity to protect their interests.46
And, as with other fundamental rights, restrictions or limitations upon the right to
participate in government must be justified by the need for them in the framework of a
democratic society, as demarcated by the means, their motives, reasonableness and
proportionality. The Commission permits states a certain degree of autonomy in making

D.C. Voting Rights Case, Inter-Am. C.H.R., ¶89 (2003); Andres Aylwin Azocar et al. v. Chile, Case
11.863, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report No. 137/99, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.106, doc. 3 rev. at 536 (1999), ¶¶ 99, 101.
45
Proposed Amendments to the Naturalization Provisions of the Constitution of Costa Rica, Advisory
Opinion OC-4/84, January 19, 1984, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (Ser. A) No. 4 (1984), ¶57.
46
Id. ¶56. For another example, the Commission found that with respect to granting naturalization, the
granting state may legitimately determine whether and to what extent applicants for naturalization have
complied with the conditions deemed to ensure an effective link between them and the value system and
interests of the society to which they wish to belong, and it would not be discriminatory for a state to
establish less stringent residency requirements for those foreigners seeking to acquire nationality who,
viewed objectively, share much closer historical, cultural and spiritual bonds with that nation. Id. ¶¶ 58-60.

these determinations, but will find a violation of the right to vote where the essence and
effectiveness of the right is eviscerated.47
Here, restrictions on the Petitioners’ fundamental right to vote are applied in
blanket fashion to one and all parolee and probationer, and thus not objectively. They are
also not reasonable. It cannot be reasonable to disfranchise people who are trying to
reintegrate into society, who possess a right to rehabilitation under the American
Declaration (as more fully explained in Part IV.C). Finally, the policies are not in service
of legitimate government ends, for two reasons. First, racial discrimination cannot be a
legitimate governmental aim. Second, once the State of New Jersey determines that a
person is no longer a threat to the community and releases them from incarceration, there
has been a determination that these individuals can rejoin their communities. Prohibiting
these parolees and probationers from voting frustrates the legitimate governmental goals
of reintegration and reformation of offenders.
3.

The Right to Vote Protected by Article XX Should Be Interpreted in
Light of Universal and Regional Human Rights Law Which Likewise
Protect Parolees’ and Probationers’ Voting Rights.

Universal and regional human rights laws also support a finding that Article XX
protects individual Petitioners’ rights to vote from the State of New Jersey’s felon
disfranchisement laws. As in the Inter-American system, treaties and other international
instruments have been broadly interpreted to protect the franchise. Universal and
regional human rights instruments (analogous to Declaration Article XX) have been
specifically interpreted to prohibit felon disfranchisement. The Commission should look

D.C. Voting Rights Case, Inter-Am. C.H.R., ¶¶99, 101.

to these determinations to find that New Jersey’s felon disfranchisement law violates
Article XX.48
For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides broad suffrage
protection in Articles 21(1 and 3),49 and the International Covenant on Civil & Political
Rights (ICCPR), ratified by the United States in 1995, provides for similar, albeit, more
detailed protections in Article 25:
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions
mentioned in article 2 [race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other status] and without unreasonable
restrictions:
(a) to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen
representatives;
(b) to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by
universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing
the free expression of the will of the electors; …50
In General Comment 25, the U.N. Human Rights Committee (HRC) considered
application of Article 25 of the ICCPR specifically in relation to member state laws
depriving citizens of their right to vote, requiring that “[t]he grounds for such deprivation
[be] objective and reasonable. If conviction for an offence is a basis for suspending the
right to vote, the period of such suspension should be proportionate to the offence and the
sentence.”51

Otherwise stated, they have been interpreted to prohibit laws that are unduly restrictive of the right, or
unreasonable, disproportionate, lacking objectivity or which erode the essence of the right.
49
“1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen
representatives. ….3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall
be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA
Res. 217A(111), UN Doc. A/810 (1948), Article 21 (1, 3).
50
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No.
16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force Mar. 23, 1976.
51
Human Rights Committee, General Comment 25 (57), General Comments under article 40, ¶4, of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the Committee at its 1510th meeting, U.N.
Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.7 (1996), ¶14, available at
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/d0b7f023e8d6d9898025651e004bc0eb?Opendocument

In practice, the HRC has consistently required that member states limit the reach
of criminal disfranchisement laws. For example, in 2001 after evaluating the United
Kingdom’s disfranchisement law, which barred all incarcerated prisoners from voting, in
light of Article 25 of the ICCPR, the HRC concluded that it could not find justification
for a general ban on voting by even serving prisoners in modern times.52 More recently,
and of direct relevance to this case, in its 2006 Concluding Observations on the United
States Country Report, after considering information provided by the United States and
non-governmental organizations, the HRC found that U.S. disfranchisement policies
violate the ICCPR and called for the restoration of voting rights to U.S. citizens with
criminal convictions upon their release from prison. As the HRC found:
general deprivation of the right [to] vote for persons who have received a felony
conviction, and in particular those who are no longer deprived of liberty, do not
meet the requirements of articles 25 or 26 of the Covenant, nor serves the
rehabilitation goals of article 10 (3).
By definition, this would include persons on parole and probation such as the individual
Petitioners here.53

In its post-review assessment of the United Kingdom in 2001, the HRC commented, with respect to the
United Kingdom’s blanket disfranchisement provision banning all serving prisoners from voting:
“The Committee is concerned at the State party’s maintenance of an old law that convicted prisoners may
not exercise their right to vote. The Committee fails to discern the justification for such a practice in
modern times, considering that it amounts to an additional punishment and that it does not contribute
towards the prisoner’s reformation and social rehabilitation, contrary to article 10, paragraph 3, in
conjunction with article 25 of the Covenant. The State party should reconsider its law depriving convicted
prisoners of the right to vote.” Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee, United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, U.N. Doc. CCPR/CO/73/UK (2001), ¶10, available at:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/2153823041947eaec1256afb00323ee7?Opendocument
53
Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on the Second and Third U.S. Reports to the
Committee (2006), ¶35, available at
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/AdvanceDocs/CCPR.C.USA.CO.pdf (If the Human Rights
Committee’s recommendations are implemented, 36 states would change their laws and nearly four million
Americans would have their voting rights restored.)

Additionally, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which was ratified by the United States in 1994,54 in a
broad suffrage provision, also protects the voting rights of persons with criminal
convictions while on parole and probation. Citing the general non-discrimination clause
of Article 2, 55 Article 5(C) provides that “States Parties undertake to … guarantee the
right of everyone … to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following
rights: (c) Political rights, in particular the right to participate in elections — to vote and
to stand for election — on the basis of universal and equal suffrage .. . . .”56
Regional human rights laws guaranteeing voting rights likewise prohibit blanket
disfranchisement laws and policies or those that are not objective, reasonable or
proportionate to the state aim pursued by the restriction, or that unnecessarily impede
upon the essence of the right. The most comprehensive and recent analysis of
disfranchisement laws and their impact on the right to vote has been conducted by the
European Court of Human Rights in Hirst v. United Kingdom (Hirst No. 2).57 In Hirst
No. 2, the Court considered a U.K. law that banned prisoners from voting. John Hirst, a
serving prisoner, invoked Article 3, Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human
Rights, which requires states parties “to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, G.A. res. 2106 (XX),
Annex, 20 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 47, U.N. Doc. A/6014 (1966), 660 U.N.T.S. 195, entered into
force Jan. 4, 1969.
55
Article 2 requires governments to take “special and concrete measures to ensure the adequate
development and protection of certain racial groups or individuals belonging to them, for the purpose of
guaranteeing them the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Id. Art. 2(2).
56
Id. Art. 5(c). See also, Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, G.A. res. 45/111, annex, 45 U.N.
GAOR Supp. (No. 49A) at 200, U.N. Doc. A/45/49 (1990) ), ¶5, which requires that except for those
limitations which are demonstrably necessitated by imprisonment, the human rights and fundamental
freedoms in the ICCPR are to be retained by all prisoners. Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners,
Dec. 14, 1990, G.A. Res. 111, U.N. GAOR, 45th Sess., Supp. No. 49A, at 200, U.N. Doc. A/45/49,
available at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_comp35.htm.
57
Hirst v.United Kingdom (No.2), 681 Eur. Ct. H.R. (2005).

secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the
people in the choice of their legislature.”58
At the outset, the Court made clear that casting the ballot is a right, not a
privilege, and that the presumption in democratic states must be in favor of inclusion;
“universal suffrage,” said the Court “has become the basic principle.”59 Following a
comprehensive review of all relevant national and international law and jurisprudence on
voting rights,60 the Court found that although states are accorded a margin of appreciation
in giving recognition to this right, in enacting voting laws, states are constrained by the
following fundamental principles: (1) the conditions they impose may not curtail
Convention rights to such an extent as to impair their very essence; (2) the aim of the
restrictive legislation must be legitimate; and (3) the means employed to achieve that aim
may not be disproportionate.61
The Court conceded that commission of certain criminal offences, such as the
serious abuse of a public position or conduct that threatens “to undermine the rule of law
or democratic foundations,”62 may indeed warrant disfranchisement, and agreed with the
U.K. submission that crime prevention was a legitimate purpose for any disfranchisement
law. However, because it barred all prisoners from voting during their incarceration, the

Id., citing Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (also Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), 213 U.N.T.S. 262, entered into force May 18, 1954, Art. 3.
The African Convention on Human and Peoples’ Rights is also apposite, providing for a broad right to
participation in Article 13: (1). Every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the government of
his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the
law. (2). Every citizen shall have the right of equal access to the public service of his country. (3) Every
individual shall have the right of access to public property and services in strict equality of all persons
before the law. African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted June 27, 1981, OAU
Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), entered into force Oct. 21, 1986, Art. 13.
59
Id. ¶59
60
Id. ¶¶ 6, 9.
61
Id. ¶62.
62
Id. ¶ 77.

Court did not find the ban proportional.63 In this regard, the Court found it significant
that 48,000 prisoners were disfranchised by the measure. That number included a wide
range of minor and major offenders. The Court also noted, disapprovingly, that English
courts do not advise prisoners that disfranchisement followed as a consequence of
imprisonment.64 The Court held that the United Kingdom’s “general, automatic and
indiscriminate restriction on a vitally important convention right” fell outside “any
acceptable margin of appreciation” and was “incompatible with Article 3, Protocol 1.”65
Similarly, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice
Commission)66 also requires any ban on prisoner voting to be proportional, limited to
serious offenses, and explicitly imposed by sentencing courts.67 In its Report on the
Abolition of Restrictions on the Right to Vote in General Elections,68 which comprises
both an aggregation and an evaluation of the European Court of Human Rights’ voting
rights jurisprudence, the Venice Commission concluded: “[t]he Court constantly
63

Id. ¶71.
Id. ¶ 71. The court cited approvingly the Venice Commission’s recommendation that withdrawal of
political rights should only be carried out by express judicial decision, as “a strong safeguard against
arbitrariness.” Id.
65
Id. ¶ 82. The ECHR judges split 12-5, with the dissenters arguing, inter alia, that courts should not
assume legislative functions. Id. ¶ 6 (Wildhaber, J., dissenting).
66
The Venice Commission, available at
http://www.venice.coe.int/site/main/presentation_E.asp?MenuL=E. The United States has observer status at
the Commission. See Members of the Venice Commission, Observer States, available at
http://www.venice.coe.int/site/dynamics/N_members_ef.asp?L=E.
67
The Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (2002) states: “(i) provision may be made
for depriving individuals of their right to vote and to be elected, but only subject to the following
cumulative conditions. (ii) It must be provided for by law. (iii) The proportionality principle must be
observed; conditions for depriving individuals of the right to stand for election may be less strict than for
disenfranchising them. (iv) The deprivation must be based on mental incapacity or a criminal conviction for
a serious offense. (v) Furthermore, the withdrawal of political rights … may only be imposed by express
decision of a court of law.” Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, Part I (1)(dd), available at
http://www.Venice.coe.int/docs/2002/cdl-el(2002)005-e.asp, adopted at the Commission’s 51st Plenary
Session (5-6 July 2002) and submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on
November 6, 2002. Adopted by the Council for Democratic Elections at its 14th meeting (Venice, 20
October 2005) and the Venice Commission at its 64th plenary session (Venice, 21-22 October 2005).
68
Report on the Abolition of Restrictions on the Right to Vote in General Elections, CDL-AD(2005)012,
endorsed by the Venice Commission at its 61st Plenary Session (Venice, 3-4 December 2004) available at
http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2005/CDL-AD(2005)012-e.asp.
64

emphasizes that . . . there is room for inherent limitations . . . however measures of the
state must not impair the very essence of the rights protected under Article 3 Protocol No.
1.”69
Universal and regional human rights laws therefore support an interpretation that
the American Declaration’s Article XX prohibits felon disfranchisement as practiced in
New Jersey. Universal and regional human rights laws also require that any suspension
of the right to vote be based on “objective and reasonable” grounds, and be proportionate
to the offense and the sentence imposed. Like the law barring all incarcerated prisoners
from voting which was struck down in Hirst No. 2, the New Jersey law bars all
imprisoned persons from voting, but it goes much further and also bars all people serving
out the remainder of their sentences in their communities – while on parole or probation.
The New Jersey law sweeps into its ambit a great variety of offenders, some guilty of
relatively minor offenses such as criminal mischief, forgery, and theft,70 and affects
nearly 100,000 parolees and probationers. That number is more than twice the number
considered too many by the Court in Hirst No. 2.
Moreover, New Jersey courts and corrections officials do not advise people
pleading guilty or being sentenced that they will lose this fundamental right to vote until
they have fully served all portions of their sentence, even if a portion of their sentence is
served while living in their communities. Such practice is contrary to that recommended
by the European Court in Hirst No. 2 and actually practiced by many democratic nations.

Id. ¶ 82.
In New Jersey, there are no felonies as in other U.S. states, only crimes and petty offenses. New Jersey
Code of Criminal Justice, N.J.S. Section 1. Any “crime” such as those just mentioned, is indictable and
thus causes loss of voting rights. “Criminal mischief” is defined as “purposely or knowingly damag[ing]
tangible property of another.” N.J.S. 2(C), Section 17.
70

As discussed above, the essence of individual Petitioners’ right to vote is thus
seriously eroded by current New Jersey disfranchisement laws and accordingly violates
Article XX.
4.

Article XX Should Be Interpreted in Light of State Practice Which
Also Protects Parolee and Probationer Voting Rights.

Recognizing the fundamental importance of universal suffrage in a functioning
democracy, state practice too supports the position that there can be no blanket
prohibitions on voting rights, and that when restrictions are imposed, they must be
narrowly tailored to meet compelling state interests. First and most importantly,
legislative and legal practice of OAS member states broadly supports voting by prisoners,
parolees and probationers.
Available data on legislative restrictions on voting by people with criminal
convictions in OAS states indicate that eight OAS member states permit some or all
prisoner voting.71 They are Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominica, Jamaica, Paraguay,
Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. And, according to available research, 31 OAS
states permit parolee and probationer voting. In addition to the aforementioned eight
countries, the other 23 states are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados,
Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada,
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Venezuela. 73 This would

Dignity of the Individual, Evaluation of Prisons in the OAS, Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of
Errants, Third International Conference June 2006, available at
http://www.curenational.org/new/image/oas_justice.pdf.
72
Id.
73
Id.; JEFF MANZA AND CHRISTOPHER UGGEN, LOCKED OUT: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, 9 (2006), Table A1.1, at page 235.

suggest that every OAS state except the United States, Cuba and Uruguay allow persons
who have been released to vote, subject to certain restrictions in some cases.74
OAS member state jurisprudence also supports voting by prisoners, parolees and
probationers. For example, in Sauvé v Canada (Chief Electoral Officer), [2002] 3 S.C.R
519 (Sauvé No. 2), a prisoner successfully challenged and invalidated an electoral
provision of the Canadian Electoral Act disfranchising all prisoners serving sentences of
more than two years. The prisoner argued that the disfranchisement law infringed upon
his rights under Article 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms. Like Article
XX of the American Declaration, Article 3 provides broad suffrage protection:
Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the
House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for
membership therein.
The Supreme Court of Canada addressed whether the legislative provision at issue
infringed this guarantee, and, if so, whether the infringement was justifiable under
another section of the Charter. To be demonstrably justified, the Court wrote, the
government would have to prove that its aims warranted the restriction on the franchise.
The Canadian Supreme Court rejected all of the government's arguments justifying
Canada's disfranchisement law. Specifically, the Court found that the government’s
arguments that the disfranchisement of prisoners serving sentences of over two years
enhanced civic responsibility and respect for the rule of law, served as an additional
punishment, and enhanced the general purposes of the criminal sanction, lacked merit.75
The Canadian Supreme Court disagreed, underscoring that the framers of the Charter
74

Chile bans voting for 10 years after release from prison. Dignity of the Individual, Evaluation of Prisons
in the OAS, Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants, Third International Conference June 2006,
available at http://www.curenational.org/new/image/oas_justice.pdf.
75
Sauvé No. 2, at 921.

signaled the special importance of the right to vote by Article 3’s “broad untrammeled
language.”76
With respect to the government’s “rule of law” argument justification for denying
prisoners the vote, the Court referred to “the variety of offences and offenders covered by
the prohibition,” and concluded that the policy could not communicate a clear lesson to
the nation’s citizens about respect for the rule of law.77 The Court also implied that it
was denial of the vote that was inconsistent with any concept of the rule of law: “Denying
a citizen the right to vote denies the basis of democratic legitimacy … if we accept that
governmental power in a democracy flows from the citizens, it is difficult to see how that
power can legitimately be used to disfranchise the very citizens from whom the
government’s power flows.”78
Responding to the government’s second, “punishment” argument, the Canadian
Supreme Court disagreed that the government could impose the total loss of a
constitutional right on a particular class of people for a certain period of time.
Punishment, according to the Court, could not be arbitrary and must serve a valid
criminal law purpose. Disfranchisement served no valid purpose whatever. Further, the
Court found that punishment for breaking the social contract, where it concerns
constitutional rights, must be constitutionally constrained.79
Finally, the Court was wholly unconvinced by the government’s “seriousness of
the crime” argument. It pointed out that the only other reason the government had
supplied to explain why it now limited the disqualification to those serving less than two

Id. ¶ 11.
Id. ¶ 39.
78
Id. ¶ 32.
79
Id. ¶ 39.
77

years was “because it affects a smaller class than would a blanket disfranchisement.”80
The Court stated that the analysis as to “minimum impairment” of this right was not how
many citizens were affected but whether the right itself was minimally impaired. In the
context of this case, the Court explained that “[T]he question is why individuals in this
class are singled out to have their rights restricted, and how their rights are limited.”81
The Court concluded that the effect of the provision was disproportionate to the harm the
government sought to prevent.
In invalidating the disfranchisement law, the Supreme Court of Canada found that
“[d]epriving at-risk individuals of their sense of collective identity and membership in the
community is unlikely to instill a sense of responsibility and community identity, while
the right to participate in voting helps teach democratic values and social
responsibility.”82 The deprivation of the right to vote, added the court, ran counter to the
nation’s commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every individual.83
Additionally, the practice of Council of Europe member states overwhelmingly
supports a broad concept of the right to vote. European states generally bar only
incarcerated prisoners from voting if they bar any at all. Seventeen European countries
allow all prisoners to vote.84 They are Albania, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Eleven European countries permit some prisoners to vote; other prisoners may be denied

Id. ¶ 55.
Id.
82
Id. ¶ 38.
83
Id. ¶ 35.
84
Out of Step With the World: An Analysis of Felony Disfranchisement in the U.S. and Other Democracies
(“Out of Step”), ACLU (2006), at 6.
81

the franchise, generally only by explicit order of the sentencing court, as an additional
aspect of their prison sentence,85 and for serious crimes only.86 These countries are:
Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway,
Poland, Portugal and Romania. Legislation in these nations often makes clear that courts
must impose the added penalty of disfranchisement in individual cases.87 All but four of
these nations disqualify prisoners convicted of sometimes specific but always serious
offenses. These four states disqualify based on length of sentence, and are Belgium,
Greece, Italy and Luxembourg.88 Finally, twelve European countries disfranchise all
prisoners.89 These nations are Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia,
Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, the Ukraine and the United Kingdom. With two
exceptions, the United Kingdom and Spain, these are all former Eastern Bloc states with
limited histories of universal suffrage, constitutional rights, and independent courts.90
And, it remains to be seen whether the very limited disfranchisement laws of these 12
countries will in fact survive, given the European Court of Human Rights’ recent decision
in Hirst No. 2 striking down the United Kingdom’s blanket disfranchisement.
The practice of other democratic nations likewise supports voting by prisoners,
parolees and probationers. For example, the South African Constitutional Court
concluded that prisoner disfranchisement was impermissible. In the first of two related

Id. at 6.
Id.
87
Id. at 7. For example, the French Penal Code explicitly states: “No penalty may be enforced where the
court has not expressly imposed it.”
88
Id.
89
Id. at 8.
90
In the case of Spain, one authority advises that disfranchisement in Spain “rarely happens.” Hirst No. 2, ¶
9. See also Out of Step, at 8 n.39.
86

cases, August and another v. Electoral Commission and others (CCT 8/99 1999),91
prisoners alleged that they had not been provided the means or mechanisms by which to
vote from jail. Noting the historic importance of the franchise “both for the acquisition of
the rights of full and effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for
the accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood” and adding that “[t]he vote of each
and every citizen is a badge of dignity and personhood,”92 the Court flagged the issue as
one the legislature should attend to. But, simultaneously, it ruled that the Electoral
Commission, by not providing the means and mechanisms to allow prisoners to vote, had
breached the prisoners’ right to vote.
The legislature responded, amending its laws to bar from voting those prisoners
serving a sentence of imprisonment without the option of a fine.93 Just after the
amendment took effect, the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration
of Offenders (NICRO) and two convicted prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment
without the option of a fine filed National Institution for Crime Prevention and the ReIntegration of Offenders (NICRO), Erasmus and Schwagerl v Minister of Home Affairs
(CCT 03/04 2004), an urgent application in the High Court for an order declaring that the
amendment violated the constitution.94
The Court struck down the new law. In doing so, it outright rejected the
arguments proffered by the government as to the propriety of the legislation. The Court
rejected the government’s argument that the August judgment had directed Parliament to

1999 (3) SA 1 (CC); 1999 (4) BCLR 363 (CC), available at
http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/Archimages/1989.PDF.
92
Id. ¶ 17.
93
Electoral Laws Amendment Act 34 of 2003, s. 8(2)(f).
94
Minister of Home Affairs v. Nicro, CCT 03/04, available at
http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/southafrica-decision.pdf. at ¶ 83.

enact disfranchisement law.95 The Court also rejected the argument that prisoners
serving sentences without the option of a fine was commensurate with the seriousness of
the offenses they had committed. The Court also rejected the argument that allowing
these persons to retain the vote would make the government appear soft on crime.96
Finally, the Court rejected the argument that the provision of special ballots for all
prisoners and the transportation of the ballots was a costly logistical exercise. Special
ballots themselves, it argued, involved an inherent risk of tampering and voter
interference.97
The South African Constitutional Court, in striking down the law found the
government’s arguments failed for lack of any rationale underpinning its stated
objectives.98 The government, said the Court, failed “to place sufficient information
before the Court to enable it to know exactly what purpose the disfranchisement was
intended to serve.”99 The government’s concern about appearing soft on crime drew a
particularly sharp response. The state, the Court ruled, may not “disenfranchise prisoners
in order to enhance its image,” nor “deprive convicted prisoners of valuable rights that
they retain in order to correct a public misconception as to its true attitude to crime and
criminals.”100 And the Court refused to accept excuses concerning logistics and expense
given the fact that there already existed mechanisms to register and facilitate voting by
those prisoners who were awaiting trial or serving a sentence in lieu of a fine.

Id. ¶ 125.
Id. ¶ 139.
97
Id. ¶ 108.
98
Id. ¶ 108.
99
Id. ¶ 65.
100
Id. ¶ 56.
96

For similar reasons to those detailed in the South African cases, in the case of
Alrai v. Minister of the Interior et al,101 Israel’s Supreme Court refused to disfranchise
prisoner Yigal Amir, convicted of murdering Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. According to
Article 5 of the 1958 Basic Law of the Knesset “[ev]ery Israeli national over the age of
eighteen has the right to vote unless a court has deprived him of that right by virtue of
any law….” Israeli courts are given oversight of the laws relating to disfranchisement.
The right to vote is subsumed within the right of citizenship. The Minister of the Interior,
however, holds the power to revoke the citizenship of “any person who has committed an
act that contains an element of the breach of trust towards the State of Israel.”102
A third party had petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel to review the decision of
the Minister of the Interior not to deprive Amir of his citizenship. Refusing to
disfranchise Amir, the Israeli court called the right to vote “a prerequisite of democracy.”
It cited the U.S. Supreme Court case Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86 (1958), for the
proposition that:
citizenship is not a license that expires upon misbehavior … [it] is not a weapon
that the government may use to express its displeasure at a citizen’s conduct,
however reprehensible that conduct may be…the civilized nations of the world
are in virtual unanimity that statelessness is not to be imposed as punishment for
crime.
Trop, at 92-102.
The Israeli Supreme Court agreed with the Minister of the Interior that revocation
of citizenship, because it included the right to vote and to be elected, was a “drastic and
extreme step.” The Court noted that society had rightly and in numerous forms –
including in its judgment against Amir -expressed its revulsion at the murder. However,

101
102

HCJ 2757/06 Alrai v. Minister of the Interior et al. [1996] lsr SC 50(2) 18.
Clause 11b of The Law of Citizenship 5712-952.

said the Court, that “contempt for this act” must be separated from “respect for his
right.”103 In specifically discussing the right to vote, the Court noted that the Knesset had
the authority to pass laws restricting the right to vote but had not done so, continuing:
“Although in Israel citizenship was not granted an honorary place as a Basic Law, there is
no doubt that it is a basic right. Among other things, because it is the foundation of the
right to vote for the Knesset, from which democracy flows.”104 The Israeli justices ruled
that “[w]ithout the right to elect, the foundation of all other basic rights is undermined
.…” Thus, even in an embattled country under constant security threats, the Court treated
criminal disfranchisement law as a question of democracy.105
Legislative and legal practice of OAS and non-OAS member states also supports
voting by prisoners, parolees and probationers. Several OAS member states, and nearly
one-half of all European states, and many other democracies with similarly mixed
populations as present in the U.S., permit all incarcerated prisoners to vote. Very few
European states engage in any post-incarceration disfranchisement, and when they do, it
is only for the most serious offenses. Many New Jerseyans, like Petitioners, who are
serving their sentences in their communities, have done no more than criminal mischief.
Disfranchising anyone, let alone everyone, on parole or probation is far out of step with
the practice of other democratic nations. Article XX should be read in the light of these
practices to protect the voting rights of individual Petitioners and New Jersey
disfranchisement law should be found in violation of Article XX.
103

Hilla Alrai, ¶ 5.
Id. ¶ 4.
105
Interestingly, though it had not faced the question of whether Amir should be disfranchised, the criminal
court which initially sentenced Amir had also commented on the importance of elections to a democracy.
That Court stated “those who treasure life do not change their leadership by an assassin’s bullets, and that
the only way to do so is via free, democratic elections … as is customary in a democratic state, this
discussion must be conducted firmly, yet with mutual respect and tolerance … especially when
unpopular opinions are voiced by a minority … ” Crim C (TA.) Israel v. Yigal Amir, [1996].
104

Article XX of the American Declaration, as interpreted in light of universal and
regional human rights laws on the right to vote as well as state practice in this area,
embraces broad protections on the right. Any restriction on Article XX’s right to vote
must be legitimate and reasonable, as well as proportional to offense and sentence, and,
most importantly, must not eviscerate the essence of this fundamental right.
Felony disfranchisement, moreover, to comply with Article XX, in line with international
law and widespread national practice, can only be imposed where the sentencing court
explicitly incorporates disfranchisement as part of the sentence. Under these standards it
is clear that the right of parolees and probationers, and in particular, the rights of the
individual Petitioners here have been violated.
B.

New Jersey Felon Disfranchisement Law Violates Article II of the American
Declaration because it Disproportionately Impacts the Rights of African
American and Latino Voters.
Under Article II of the American Declaration, universal human rights law, and

state practice within and without OAS member states, any measure adopted by a state
that is demonstrated to have a disparate impact on the rights of a specific group of
individuals on grounds such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, constitutes
discrimination. As discussed throughout this petition, the State of New Jersey’s
disfranchisement laws disproportionately affect New Jersey’s Black and Hispanic
citizens. Thus they are discriminatory in nature and in violation of one of the most
fundamental human rights protections: the right to be free from discrimination on basis of
race. Accordingly, New Jersey’s felon disfranchisement law and policies violate not only

individual petitioners’ right to vote but also their right to be free from discrimination on
the basis of race as protected by Article II of the American Declaration.
1.

Article II Establishes An Effects-Based Standard for What
Constitutes Prohibited Discriminatory Treatment.

Article II provides: “All persons are equal before the law and have the rights and
duties established in this Declaration, without distinction as to race, sex, language, creed
or any other factor.” Article II has been defined as “the right of everyone to equal
protection of the law without discrimination.”106 As the Commission has repeatedly
highlighted, the right to equality before the law means not that the substantive provisions
of the law will be the same for everyone, but that the application of the law should be
equal for all without discrimination.107
In assessing whether a law is being applied in a discriminatory manner, the
Commission examines the context in which alleged violations occur to determine if there
is discrimination. The Commission, in examining protections under the American
Declaration, “must interpret and apply Article[….] II in the context of current
circumstances and standards.”108
Where racially discriminatory treatment is alleged in cases before it, in assessing
whether such discrimination is in fact present, the Commission has looked to evidence of
racial profiling of minorities,109 documented histories of minority populations being more

106

Bjorn Stormorken and Leo Zwaak, Human Rights Terminology in International Law: A Thesaurus,
(Dordrecht, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988).
107
William Andrews v. United States, Case 11.139, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report Nº 57/96,
OEA/Ser.L/V/II.95, doc. 7 rev. at 570 ¶ 173 (1997).
108
D.C. Voting Rights Case, Inter-Am. C.H.R., ¶ 105, 95.
109
Jailton Neri da Fonseca, Report Nº 33/04, Case 11.634, Brazil (2004), para. 35, available at Jailton
Neri Da Fonseca v. Brazil, Case 11.634, Inter-Am. C.H.R., Report No. 33/04, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.122 Doc. 5
rev. 1, ¶ 35 (2004).

likely to be suspected, arrested, prosecuted, and convicted than others.110 This is
precisely the kind of data Petitioners adduce here. As discussed in Part II, there have been
official findings by the State of New Jersey that African-American and Latino citizens
are targeted for investigation because of their race. These unlawful investigations lend to
the disproportionate conviction and disfranchisement of people of color throughout the
State. Such discrimination violates Article II of the American Declaration.
Racial profiling that leads to disfranchisement of people of color as is present in the State
of New Jersey also violates the American Convention. The American Convention
provides in its corresponding non-discrimination provision, Article 1, which states parties
undertake to respect the rights and freedoms recognized in the Convention, and to
guarantee their full and free exercise by all persons subject to their jurisdiction, without
any discrimination. Also relevant is Article 24 which provides that “All persons are
equal before the law…. they are entitled, without discrimination, to equal protection of
the law.” The Court has interpreted these provisions to incorporate an effects-based
standard: In jurisprudence relating to the rights of undocumented migrants, the Court
observed that “States must abstain from carrying out any action that, in any way, directly
or indirectly, is aimed at creating situations of de jure or de facto discrimination.”111 And,
the disparate impact that felon disfranchisement has on communities of color in New
Jersey meets this standard.

110

Id. ¶¶ 35-36.
See e.g., Juridical Condition and Rights of Undocumented Migrants, Advisory Opinion, OC-18/03,
Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (Ser. A) No. 18, at para. 103 (Sept. 17, 2003).

111

2. Article II Should be Interpreted in Light of Universal and Regional
Human Rights Laws Prohibiting Discrimination Which, Like Article II,
Provide For An Effects-Based Standard For What Constitutes Racially
Discriminatory Treatment.
Universal and regional human rights laws, including the ICCPR and ICERD also
protect against effects-based racially discriminatory treatment.
As the HRC elaborates in General Comment 18(37) on Article 26 of the
ICCPR,112Article 26 “…. prohibits discrimination in law or in fact in any field regulated
and protected by public authorities. Article 26 is therefore concerned with the obligations
imposed on States parties in regard to their legislation and the application thereof.”113
(emphasis added).

Significantly, this year, the HRC specifically considered application of Article 26
in relation to U.S. felon disfranchisement policies and expressed its concern that the
widespread practice of denying voting rights to people with felony convictions in the
United States violates Article 26 as it is disproportionately impacting the rights of
minority groups and is counterproductive to efforts to reintegrate those re-entering
society after prison.114
The ICERD also sanctions the use of an effects-based standard to determine
whether discriminatory treatment is in evidence. Article 1 defines discrimination to mean
“any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or
112

Human Rights Committee, General Comment 18, Non-discrimination (Thirty-seventh session, 1989),
Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty
Bodies, U.N. Doc. HRI\GEN\1\Rev.1 at 26 (1994).
113
Article 26 provides “ all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to
the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to
all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, supra note 36, at art. 26.
114
Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on the Second and Third U.S. Reports to the
Committee (2006), ¶35, available at
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/AdvanceDocs/CCPR.C.USA.CO.pdf

national ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental
freedoms.”115 (emphasis added). ICERD’s monitoring body, the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, like the HRC, has raised concerns about U.S. felon
disfranchisement policies and their incompatibility with Article 1. In Concluding
Observations issued to the United States in 2001, the Committee highlighted its concern
about “[t]he political disenfranchisement of a large segment of the ethnic minority
population who are denied the right to vote by disenfranchising laws and practices ….”116
The Committee called on the United States “take all appropriate measures … to ensure
the right of everyone, without discrimination as to race, colour, or national or ethnic
origin, to the enjoyment of the rights contained in Article 5 [which provides for the right
to political participation] of the Convention.”117
Significantly, in ratifying both the ICCPR and ICERD, the U.S. made no
reservation to their non-discrimination provisions. In fact, the U.S. Government, when it
appeared before the Committee in 2001, indicated a willingness to confront the issue of
racial disproportion in felon disfranchisement. During the review process, one

115

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, G.A. res. 2106
(XX), Annex, 20 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 47, U.N. Doc. A/6014 (1966), 660 U.N.T.S. 195, entered
into force Jan. 4, 1969, at Art. 1 (1).
116
Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
United States of America, U.N. Doc. A/56/18, ¶ 397 (2001), available at
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/001961f8a1ae7b29c1256aa9002ae228?Opendocument.
117
Id. ¶ 398. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, concurring in the affirmative-action case Grutter
v. Bollinger, cited the ICERD to reveal international understandings of the issue: “The Court’s observation
that race-conscious programs must have a logical end point … accords with the international understanding
of the office of affirmative action. [ICERD] … endorses ‘special and concrete measures to ensure the
adequate development and protection of certain racial groups or individuals belonging to them, for the
purpose of guaranteeing them the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms’ …
But such measures, the Convention instructs, “shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of
unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have
been achieved.” See Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, at 344. (2003). Justice Ginsburg went on to cite
Art. 1(4) similarly providing for temporally limited affirmative action.

Committee member expressed his concern that millions of African-Americans were
deprived of their voting rights for penal reasons and wanted to know what measures were
being taken by the U.S. to end the disparities between blacks and whites in that respect.
He also expressed concern by apparent double standards in decisions handed down by the
U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in establishment of unequal rights among different
ethnic and racial groups. He asked the United States delegation whether steps were being
taken to address this situation and, in particular, to require states to implement Article 2
(1) (c) of the Convention [requiring States Parties to “take effective measures to review
governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and
regulations which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination
wherever it exists”].118 The U.S representative acknowledged that the issue was serious
and assured the members of the Committee that it would be given very serious
consideration.119
As demonstrated above, the HRC revisited this issue this year and specifically
found that felony disfranchisement as practiced in the U.S. states violated the ICCPR’s
race discrimination provisions. These findings are consistent with resolutions of other
major human rights bodies, which support a prohibition on race discrimination in
voting.120

118

U.N. CERD, 59th Sess., 1476th mtg. on Aug. 6 2001 at 3, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/SR.1476 (May 22, 2003),
¶ 57.
119
Id., ¶ 65.
120
See, eg., U.N. General Assembly resolutions, adopted each year since at least 1991. In Resolution
46/137, the U.N. affirmed that “the systematic denial or abridgement of the right to vote on grounds of race
or colour is a gross violation of human rights and an affront to the conscience and dignity of mankind,
and...the right to participate in the political system based on common and equal citizenship and universal
franchise is essential for the exercise of the principle of periodic and genuine elections.” G.A. Res. 46/137,
art. 6, U.N. Doc. A/RES/46/137 (Dec. 17, 1991). The General Assembly has reiterated this call for
universal and equal non-discriminatory suffrage regularly since that time. The Human Rights Council has
taken similar actions recently. Its predecessor body, the Commission on Human Rights, also adopted

3. Article II Should Be Interpreted In Light of State Practice Which Also
Recognizes An Effects-Based Standard for What Constitutes Racially
Discriminatory Treatment
Like Article II and international law, state practice too, recognizes an effectsbased standard for assessing when racially discriminatory treatment occurs amongst the
voting populace.
For instance, in Canada, a country with a large, heterogeneous, disproportionately
minority prison population, race has been an explicit part of the disfranchisement debate.
Canadian government statistics portray that although Aboriginal adults comprise about 3
percent of the Canadian population they account for 18 percent of the federal prison
population, 20 percent of the provincial prison population, and 27 percent of the female
prisoner population.121 And, in one region, Saskatchewan, Aboriginals are incarcerated
at 35 times the rate of non-Aboriginals, and constitute 77 percent of the total prison
population.122
In Sauvé No. 2, these disparities were taken into consideration by the Court in
striking down a felon disfranchisement statute. The Court discussed the effect of
disfranchisement on the minority population in Canada, noting that the policy had a
“disproportionate impact on Canada’s already disadvantaged Aboriginal population,
whose over representation in prisons reflects a crisis in the Canadian criminal justice

resolutions each year since 1999, which call for the right to “universal and equal suffrage” in periodic and
free elections. See, eg., “Promotion of the Right to Democracy,” U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Res.
1999/57, at 2(d), U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/1999/57 (Apr. 27, 1999); “Strengthening of popular participation,
equity, social justice and non-discrimination as essential foundations of democracy,” U.N. Commission on
Human Rights, Res. 2005/29, at 9, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2005/29 (Apr. 19, 2005).
121
Prison Facts & Statistics: Statistics for 2003-2004, Adult Prison Population and Costs,
http://www.prisonjustice.ca/politics/facts_stats.html (last visited Sept. 12, 2006).
122
Id.

system.”123 Thus, the Canadian Supreme Court embraced a disparate impact analysis that
linked race discrimination to disfranchisement.
In non-OAS member states with populations similar to those in Canada, such as,
Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, governmental bodies and high courts have
undertaken similar analyses of disfranchisement law and policies and arrived at similar
conclusions: they have invalidated felon disfranchisement laws and policies because they
have a discriminatory impact on minority groups.
In Australia, for instance, statistics reveal that while indigenous Australians
constitute only about 2 percent of the Australian population, they are 16 times more
likely to be in prison than non-indigenous persons, thus, indigenous Australians
comprised 20 percent of all Australian prisoners in 2003.124 Legislators considered this
disparity in briefing papers discussing disfranchisement in the context of Australia’s
obligations under the ICERD; the paper concluded, “because of the disproportionate
effect that prisoner disfranchisement has on indigenous Australians, it is arguable that
such disfranchisement conflicts with Australia’s obligations under the Convention.”125
123

Additionally, Canadian elections authorities have also undertaken a number of initiatives since the
1990s to raise awareness among Aboriginal people of their right to participate in federal elections and
referendums, and to make the electoral process more accessible to them.
124
Jerome Davidson, Inside Outcasts: Prisoners and the Right to Vote in Australia, Laws and Bills Digest,
Department of Parliamentary Services, Current Issues Brief No. 12 (May 24, 2004), at 2. Australia has a
general population of 20,438,802, a prison population of 23,362, and a prison population per 100,000 of
117 (See also Australia’s Population – Census 2001 Results, ACARANDA ATLAS (5th ed. 2001),
available at
http://www.jaconline.com.au/jacatlas5e/downloads/worksheets/JA5Wksheet0056.pdf#search=%222001%2
0australia%20census%22).
125
In an “Issues Brief for Parliament,” a section entitled “The Influence of International Instruments” traces
Australian history and movements for reform concerning the vote. The brief also engages in an
international law analysis, as part of which it notes that ICERD, to which Australia is a signatory, requires
states to “rescind or nullify laws that have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination, or of
strengthening racial division. Because of the disproportionate effect that prisoner disfranchisement has on
indigenous Australians, it is arguable that such disfranchisement conflicts with Australia’s obligations
under the Convention.” Id at 10. Australia has a general population of 20,438,802, a prison population of
23,362, and a prison population per 100,000 of 117. This brief also cites provisions of the ICCPR - not
formally part of Australian domestic law - stating “it is at least arguable that international influences play

Similar conclusions were arrived at in a study conducted by the government of
New Zealand, where Maoris comprise approximately 15 percent of the country’s
populace but over 50 percent of the prison population.126 The official Electoral
Commission, in seeking to remedy falling electoral participation by the Maori, concluded
that: “The Maori population is growing, so the negative impact of Maori nonparticipation on the quality of New Zealand’s democracy will compound quickly if things
do not change . . .” The Commission added that they wanted “to help raise Maori
participation in electoral matters . . . [and] particularly to influence those whose policies
and programs can encourage greater Maori electoral participation.”127
Finally, in South Africa, the estimated population is nearly 46 million, of which
79.4 percent is black, 9.3 percent is white, 8.8 percent is colored, and 2.5 percent is
Indian/Asian.128 In May 2001, its Africans comprised 77 percent of South Africa’s
prison population; of the rest, 20 percent were colored (mixed ancestry), 2 percent Asian,
and 1 percent white.129 In the NICRO decision, discussed above, that nation’s highest
court observed:

an important part in the development of Australian constitutional law” and cites “the powerful influence
[on Australian decisions] of the Covenant and the international standards it imports … the common law
does not necessarily conform to international law but international law is a legitimate and important
influence on the development of the common law, especially when international law declares the existence
of universal human rights.” Id. at 9 (internal citation omitted).
126
Te Puni Kokiri: Maori in New Zealand - Maori Population, 2001 Census,
http://www.tpk.govt.nz/maori/population/default.asp (last visited Sept. 12, 2006), and Corrections
Department NZ – The Strategies, Department of Corrections,
http://www.corrections.govt.nz/public/news/icpa/strategies.html (last visited Sept. 12, 2006).
127
Establishing a Maori Electoral Research Agenda, HUI (November 26, 2004),
http://www.elections.org.nz/uploads/maori_electoral_research_hui_26_nov_04.doc. See also
http://www.elections.org.nz/maori-research-rfp-jan06.html (last visited June 2006).
128
Mid-Year Population Estimates, South Africa 2005, p. 1, Statistics South Africa,
http://www.statssa.gov.za/Publications/P0302/P03022005.pdf.
129
Amanda Dissel and Jody Kollapen, Racism and Discrimination in the South African Penal System
(2002), Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, (2002), available at
http://www.csvr.org.za/papers/papadjk.htm.

In light of our history where the denial of the vote was used to entrench white
supremacy and to marginalize the great majority of the people of our country, it is
for us a precious right, which must be vigilantly respected and protected. 130
“[R]egardless of race,” the same court declared in the August case, the vote “of each and
every citizen is a badge of dignity and personhood.”131
In sum, Article II of the American Declaration, in line with universal and regional
human rights laws and widespread state practice in developed democratic states,
recognizes an effects-based standard for the assessment of whether racially
discriminatory treatment is evident. As demonstrated in detail throughout this petition,
based upon this standard, statistics conclusively demonstrate that the State of New
Jersey’s disfranchisement law and policies disproportionately impact the voting rights of
the State’s African-American and Latino populace, including individual Petitioners.
Accordingly, they violate Article II of the American Declaration.
C.

New Jersey Felon Disfranchisement Law Violates Petitioners’ Right to
Rehabilitation Protected by Articles I and XVII of the American Declaration.
Taken together, Articles I and XVII of the American Declaration together with

the overarching right of everyone to be treated with dignity recognized and protected by
the Declaration,132 guarantee individual Petitioners a right to rehabilitation. This right
has long been recognized under universal and regional human rights law and state
practice. Inherent in the right to rehabilitation is the right to vote. Research and official
130

Nicro, CCT 03/04, at 47.
August,¶ 17, available at
http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/uhtbin/cgisirsi/vdGMzgHjnA/189490026/523/1472. In the United
Kingdom, as Parliament debates changing the law disfranchising all prison inmates, advocates have pointed
out that “minority ethnic groups are disproportionately affected … due to their over-representation in the
prison population, black men are 8 times as likely to be barred from voting than their white counterparts”
where whites form 92 percent of the total population, and blacks 2.0 percent. See, eg., Marc Mauer &
Tushar Kansal, “Barred for Life: Voting Rights Restoration in Permanent Disenfranchisement States,” The
Sentencing Project (2005), available at http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/barredforlife.pdf.
132
See e.g., American Declaration at preamble (recognizing that: “The American peoples have
acknowledged the dignity of the individual…).
131

pronouncements demonstrate that preservation of voting rights for those incarcerated or
released on parole or probation may reduce recidivism and contribute to an offender’s
successful reintegration back into society. Moreover, awareness of political issues in the
community and participating in voting is a positive pro-social endeavor, which has both
the psychological and sociological effect of integrating the offender back into their
communities. Participation in popular elections allows offenders to remain involved in
community affairs that affect their families. As such New Jersey’s law and policies
disfranchising persons while on parole and probation constitute a violation of individual
Petitioners’ right to rehabilitation.
1.

The American Declaration Requires that Incarceration Serve a
Rehabilitative Function: Preserving Voting Rights Achieves Such a
Goal.

The Commission has repeatedly emphasized the rehabilitative function of a prison
sentence and the importance of rehabilitation to the individual’s harmonious reintegration
back into society.133 For example, the Commission has noted that “[t]he prison system is
intended to serve several principal objectives… [t]he “ultimate objective” being “the
rehabilitation of the offender and his or her reincorporation into society;” and that, “[t]he
exercise of custodial authority carries with it special responsibility for ensuring that the
deprivation of liberty serves its intended purpose, and does not result in the infringement
of other basic rights.”134

133

Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic, Inter-Am. C.H.R.,
OEA/Ser.L/V/II.104, Doc. 49 rev. 1 Chapter VIII(I) (1999), citing United Nations Standard Minimum Rule
65 to support this contention.
134
Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, Inter-Am. C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111, Doc. 21
rev. Chapter VIII (2001).

The Commission has found that an individual’s right to rehabilitation forms an
integral component of the rights protected pursuant to Article 5 of the American
Convention, which, in subsection (6) specifically requires re-adaptation to be a goal of
prison:
Punishments consisting of deprivation of liberty shall have as an
essential aim the reform and social re-adaptation of the prisoners.
According to the Commission, Article 5 establishes the right of every person to
have his or her “physical, mental, and moral integrity respected”135 and guarantees that
everyone deprived of liberty “shall be treated with respect for the inherent dignity of the
human person.”136 Included within the bundle of rights protected by Article 5 the
Commission has highlighted the individual’s right, following completion of sentence, to
“social re-adaptation” and reintegration back into society.137
The right to rehabilitation recognized under Article 5, is similarly protected under
Articles I and XVII of the American Declaration. Although Article I does not explicitly
recognize a right to rehabilitation, it may be implied from the Commission and InterAmerican Court’s broad interpretation of the substance of the right to life protected under
Article I. The Commission has repeatedly interpreted Article I to include similar
protections to those rights protected under Article 5.138 Thus, an individual’s right to readaptation following incarceration, specifically protected by Article 5(6), should be read
into Article I. The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court supports such an
135

Id., Section A(2).
Id.
137
Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Brazil, Inter-Am. C.H.R., OEA/Ser.L/V/II.97, Doc. 29
rev.1 Chapter IV(27) (1997).
138
Report on Terrorism and Human Rights OEA/Ser.L/V/II.116 Doc. 5 rev. 1 corr. 22 October 2002, ¶ 155
(noting that while the American Declaration lacks a general provision on the right to humane treatment, the
Commission has interpreted Article I as containing a prohibition similar to that of Article 5 of the American
Convention) (citing Case 9437, Report Nº 5/85, Juan Antonio Aguirre Ballesteros (Chile), Annual Report
of the IACHR 1984-1985.)
136

interpretation. In the Castillo Paez Case, for instance, the Court noted that the
protections encompassed by Article 5 -- and hence Article I -- are much broader in scope
than mere protection from physical mistreatment. Rather, they extend to any act that is
“clearly contrary to respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”139 Similarly, in
the Street Children Case, the Court reiterated that position, noting that: the right to life
“includes, not only the right of every human being not to be deprived of his life
arbitrarily, but also the right that he will not be prevented from having access to the
conditions that guarantee a dignified existence.”140 This broad definition of the right to
life should be read to include the guarantee of parolees and probationers’ right to
rehabilitation.
Article XVII of the American Declaration, which specifically guarantees humane
treatment for persons under custody, likewise may be interpreted to include a right of
prisoners to rehabilitation. This right tracks closely the guarantee in the American
Convention that persons deprived of liberty “shall be treated with respect for the inherent
dignity of the human person,” which, in turn, and as noted above, is closely linked to the
right under Article 5 (6) of the Convention to “re-adaptation.”
2.

Articles I and XVII of the American Declaration Should be Read in
Light of Universal and Regional Human Rights Law Which Require
that Incarceration Serve a Rehabilitative Function and Recognize that
Preserving Voting Rights Achieves Such a Goal.

Articles I and XVII should be interpreted in light of universal and regional human
rights law both of which protect an individual’s right to rehabilitation and view
preservation of their voting rights while serving a sentence as an integral part of that

139

Inter-Am. Ct. H. R., Castillo Paez Case, Judgment of Nov. 3, 1997 (Ser. C) No. 35, ¶¶ 63, 66.
Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., Villagran Morales et. al. Case (the "Street Children" Case), Judgment of Nov. 19,
1999 (Ser. C) No. 63, ¶ 144.

140

process. Importantly, the ICCPR incorporates an explicit provision guaranteeing an
individual’s right to “social rehabilitation” following a term of incarceration, and
recognizing that such treatment arises out of the need to respect individual “dignity.”
Specifically, Article 10(3) provides: “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated
with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person . . . The
penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall
be their reformation and social rehabilitation.”
The HRC has considered this provision in relation to deprivation of voting rights,
and emphasized the importance of voting as rehabilitative and that restrictions thereon are
counterproductive to rehabilitation. For example, in its Concluding Observations on the
United Kingdom’s Country Report, issued in 2001, the HRC commented, with respect to
the United Kingdom’s blanket disfranchisement provision banning all serving prisoners
from voting that the measure “….amounts to an additional punishment and that it does
not contribute towards the prisoner’s reformation and social rehabilitation, contrary to
article 10, paragraph 3, in conjunction with article 25 of the Covenant.” The HRC called
upon the U.K. to reconsider its law depriving convicted prisoners of the right to vote.141
The U.N. Basic Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Basic Rules)142 and the
U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR)143 also underscore
the rehabilitative function of incarceration. For instance, the Basic Rules require states to
provide “favorable conditions [] for the reintegration of the ex-prisoner into society under
141

Concluding Observations, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, supra. note 41, ¶ 10.
Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, Dec. 14, 1990, G.A. Res. 111, U.N. GAOR, 45th Sess.,
Supp. No. 49A, at 200, U.N. Doc. A/45/49, available at
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_comp35.htm.
143
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoner, Aug. 30, 1955, E.S.C. res.663C, 24 U.N. Escor
Supp. (No. 1) at 11, U.N. Doc. E/3048 (1957) available at
http://www.unhcr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_comp34.htm.
142

the best possible conditions.”144 And, four SMRs set forth the appropriate restrictions on
the rights of prisoners to participate in civil society and political life. SMR 57 declares
that imprisonment should not hinder reintegration into society after prison, and should
not inflict punishment beyond the deprivation of liberty. SMR 60 requires the
minimization of those differences between prison life and life outside prison which fail to
respect prisoners’ dignity as human beings, and SMR 61 elaborates:
The treatment of prisoners should emphasize not their exclusion from the
community but their continuing part in it … steps should be taken to safeguard, to
the maximum extent compatible with the law and the sentence, the rights relating
to civil interests, social security rights and other social benefits of prisoners.
And finally, SMR 65 provides:
The treatment of persons sentenced to imprisonment …shall have as its purpose
…to establish in them the will to lead law-abiding and self-supporting lives after
their release and to fit them to do so. The treatment shall be such as will
encourage their self-respect and develop their sense of responsibility.
Regional human rights laws and policies also recognize a right to rehabilitation
and how preservation of voting rights furthers this goal. For example, in 1958, the
Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers – a decision-making body comprised of the
foreign-affairs ministers of the member states, or their permanent diplomatic
representatives – established the European Committee on Crime Problems, entrusting it
with responsibility for overseeing and coordinating the Council’s crime prevention and
control activities. This body’s recommendations urge states to foster prisoners’
connections with society, in order to increase inmates’ awareness of their stake in society

144

Basic Principles, Principle 5.

– recommendations that support the retention of voting rights by prisoners, parolees and
probationers.145
3.

Articles I and XVII Should be Read in Light of State Practice Which
Also Requires that Incarceration Serve a Rehabilitative Function and
Recognizes that Preserving Voting Rights Achieves Such a Goal.

The practice of OAS and non-OAS member states also supports prisoner retention or
post-incarceration restoration of the right to vote on grounds that voting is rehabilitative.
In Sauvé No. 2, for example, Canada’s highest court acknowledged that for a prisoner to
be able to retain the right to vote sends the offender the message that becoming aware of
political issues in the community and participating in voting is a positive pro-social
endeavor: “‘To take an active interest in politics is, in modern times, the first thing which
elevates the mind to large interests and contemplations; the first step out of the narrow
bounds of individual and family selfishness...”146 This message has both the
psychological and sociological effect of weaving the offender back into the community -

145

Recommendation No. R (87)3, for example, sets forth standards to be applied by member states in the
conditions of imprisonment: “64. Imprisonment is by the deprivation of liberty a punishment in itself. The
conditions of imprisonment and the prison regimes shall not, therefore, except as incidental to justifiable
segregation or the maintenance of discipline, aggravate the suffering inherent in this.” Council of Europe,
Committee of Ministers, Recommendation 87(3) of the Committee to Member States on the European
Prison Rules, adopted by the Committee on 12 February 1987 at the 404th Meeting of Ministers’ Deputies,
available at http://portal.coe.ge/downloads/European%20Prison%20Rules.pdf. Similarly,
Recommendation No. R(2003)23, focusing on long-term prisoners, urges prison administrators “2. to ensure
that prisons are safe and secure places for these prisoners … to counteract the damaging effects of life and
long-term imprisonment … to increase and improve the possibilities of these prisoners to be successfully
resettled and to lead a law-abiding life following their release.” Council of Europe, Committee of
Ministers, Recommendation Rec(2003)23 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the
management by prison administrations of life sentence and other long-term prisoners (Adopted by the
Committee of Ministers on 9 October 2003 at the 855th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies), available at
http://www.prison.eu.org/article.php3?id_article=6715. And as general principles concerning the same
subject, the committee emphasizes “individualization,” “normalization,” and “responsibility:” “3.
Consideration should be given to the diversity of personal characteristics to be found among life sentence
and long-term prisoners and account taken of them to make individual plans for the implementation of the
sentence (individualization principle). 4. Prison life should be arranged so as to approximate as closely as
possible to the realities of life in the community (normalization principle). 5. Prisoners should be given the
opportunity to exercise personal responsibility in daily prison life (responsibility principle).” Id.
146
See, eg., Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer), [2002] 3 S.C.R. 519, 2002, SCC 68.

the very goal of rehabilitation. In it concluding analysis, the Sauvé No. 2 court
specifically addressed the rehabilitative power of voting:
Denying prisoners the right to vote … removes a route to social development and
rehabilitation … and it undermines the correctional law and policy directed towards
rehabilitation and integration.
Importantly, the Court found that the deprivation of the right to vote ran counter to the
nation’s commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every individual.147
This analysis linking the franchise to respect and dignity for everyone underpins
the practice of many European nations that permit inmates to vote. In Europe, as noted
supra, not only do many Council of Europe member states permit inmates to vote, but
many senior correctional officials have publicly acknowledged that doing so is good
policy – because it may increase public safety by enhancing the formative, rehabilitative
effects of incarceration. Scotland’s former Chief Inspector of Prisons, for example, has
stated that inmates retain the right to vote in Scotland, because their loss of freedom
should not deprive them of their “right to say something about the running of the
country.”148 The current Chief Inspector of the U.K’s Prison Service also supports prison
voting, expressing the view that voting rights prepare prisoners for resettlement.149 His
predecessor, Sir David Ramsbotham, maintains that it is a right of citizenship that is
unrelated to prison sentences, saying that prisoners “remain citizens … they’ve had their
liberty removed, nothing else … 62,000 of them are going to come out as citizens and
one of the jobs of prisons is to make them better citizens. …150 All citizens of the United

147

Id., ¶ 59.
Tanya Thompson, Prisoner's Legal Fight to Vote May Open Floodgates, THE SCOTSMAN, Nov. 1,
2004, available at http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1260252004.
149
Mauer & Kansal, “Barred for Life: Voting Rights Restoration in Permanent Disenfranchisement States,”
3.
150
Calls to give vote to prisoners, BBC NEWS, Aug. 4, 2005, available at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4406585.stm.
148

Kingdom have the vote by right — not moral authority. … Removing a citizen’s right is
an additional punishment to the deprivation of liberty.”151
The views of these European officials, that preservation of voting rights serves a
rehabilitative function, is supported by empirical research conducted here in the United
States, by the written testimony of the individual Petitioners filed herewith, as well as by
the findings of senior U.S. law enforcement and prison officials. For example, the
American Bar Association and numerous social scientists and criminologists have also
voiced the concern that not only is disfranchisement not rehabilitative, but that it operates
as a barrier between the offender and society and counteracts the rehabilitative goal of
preparing the offender to re-enter society.152
These concerns are not merely academic conjecture. Parolee interviews make it
clear that disfranchisement impacts real human beings in a tangible, oppressive way. For
example, in his affidavit, one of the individual Petitioners, Charles Thomas, states that
disfranchisement makes him feel unworthy to be a member of his community. “It
[disfranchisement] makes me feel as though what I think does not matter . . . When the
government excludes an entire group of people, such as parolees or probationers, it
151

February 2004 - Barred from voting, Prison Reform Trust,
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/subsection.asp?id=399 (last visited September 13, 2006).
152
See, eg., ABA Criminal Justice Standards on Collateral Sanctions and Discretionary Disqualification of
Convicted Persons, American Bar Association (Aug. 2003), at R-7, available at
http://www.abanet.org/leadership/2003/journal/101a.pdf; Jeremy Travis, Invisible Punishment: the
Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment 26, (Marc Mauer & Meda Chasey-Lind eds., The New
Press 2002), available at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1000557_invisible_punishment.pdf ("It is
hard to discern rehabilitative goals in these punishments. In fact they place barriers to successful
rehabilitation and reintegration."); Jeff Manza & Christopher Uggen, Punishment and Democracy:
Disenfranchisement of Non-incarcerated Felons in the United States, 2 PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICS 491,
502 (2004), available at http://www.soc.umn.edu/~uggen/Manza_Uggen_POP_04.pdf ("Denying voting
rights to...felons living in their communities on probation and parole, undermines their capacity to connect
with the political system and may thereby increase their risk of recidivism."); Howard Itzkowitz & Lauren
Oldak, Note: Restoring the Ex-Offender's Right to Vote: Background and Developments, 11 A. Crim. L.
Rev. 721, 732 (1973) ("The offender finds himself released from prison, ready to start life anew and yet at
election time still subject to the humiliating implications of disenfranchisement, a factor that may lead to
recidivism.").

makes people believe that they are not worth anything to anybody.” Furthermore, he
believes that as a senior treatment coordinator, it inhibits him to treat the people he helps
effectively. “When juveniles I help see that I do not vote come voting day, then they
believe it is not important. This happens with my own children and relatives. Therefore,
being disfranchised inhibits my ability to effectively help others in my community or
send a positive message as a father.” Exhibit C.
Petitioner Stacey Kindt believes that “the disfranchisement of parolees and
probationers has inhibited my reintegration into society. Despite my community
involvement, deep down, not being able to vote makes me feel that I am not good enough
and that I will never be accepted by the community.” Exhibit D. Furthermore, she notes
that women parolees need to be re-enfranchised in order to be successfully reintegrated
into society. “We [women parolees] can only be re-integrated into society if society
accepts us. Barring us from voting is the ultimate sign of rejection from the community
that we so desperately want to be a part of. It prohibits us from contributing to our
communities in a positive way.” 153
Petitioner Dana Thompson stated in his affidavit that disfranchisement resulted in
him feeling judged for his past while he attempted to reenter society from prison: “When
I was on parole not being able to vote felt emotionally like I was still incarcerated. When
I left prison I wanted my crimes to be behind me so that I could succeed and move on
with my life. But I couldn’t completely do that because that judgment still existed.”
Exhibit B.
153

See also, Christopher Uggen & Jeff Manza, Lost Voices: The Civic and Political Views of
Disenfranchised Felons, in IMPRISONING AMERICA: THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF MASS INCARCERATION 165204, 183 (Mary Patillo et. al. eds., Russell Sage Foundation, 2004), available at
http://www.socsci.umn.edu/%7Euggen/Sagechap8.pdf (“You've already got that wound and it's trying to
heal...[but] you telling me that I'm still really bad because I can't [vote] is like making it sting again.”).

Petitioner Michael Mackason states in his affidavit that disfranchisement inhibits
his effectiveness in the community. “. . . Imagine a person such as myself at a local
political meeting or campaign rally. When I feel compelled at such an event to ask
whether the politician will make choices that are beneficial for people re-entering into
society after prison, I am cast aside because I represent a body that has no vote. . . I
cannot take part in political conversations in my community without feeling like an
outsider. It is like being in prison all over again.” Additionally, Mackason states that
disfranchisement leads to ex-felons’ feeling powerless to effect change through means
other than violence: “I see this as a part of what leads to the violent behavior of many of
the ex-offenders over high school age with whom I work. . . It gives them a sense of
hopelessness and rebellion. . . Violence is a consequence of young people not having the
opportunity to express themselves or to change their communities.” Exhibit A.
Voting, on the other hand, fosters rehabilitation and successful community reentry. As noted, the goal of rehabilitation is “to return [the offender] to society so
reformed that he will not desire or need to commit further crimes.”154 The right, and even
the obligation, to vote is held out daily to members of American society as one of the
privileges and proud duties of being an American. Disfranchisement, therefore, signals
to offenders that they are not truly the same as the rest of us, and that they are secondclass citizens even though they are simultaneously being told that the aim of their
probation or parole is to help them become whole again. This conflicting message serves
to frustrate, confuse, and alienate offenders who want to participate in society in a
positive and meaningful way.

154

Wayne R. LaFave & Austin W. Scott, Jr., Substantive Criminal Laws § 1.5 (2d ed. 2003).

Research also demonstrates that offenders are less likely to re-offend if they vote.
Among those who have been arrested, people who vote are only half as likely to be
rearrested as those who do not; that is, voters recidivate one-half as often as non-voters.
Restoring voting rights, therefore, is an important part of rehabilitation for those
convicted of felonies. It gives such offenders a voice and a continuing stake in what
happens in their communities.155
U.S. law enforcement officials and prison administrators also attest to the
rehabilitative power of the vote, both for those incarcerated and those under supervision
but living in their communities. In litigation before the United States Second Circuit
Court of Appeals in which the issue was the disproportionate impact of New York’s felon
disfranchisement statute on the state’s incarcerated and paroled Blacks and Hispanics, a
group of prominent law enforcement officials wrote in an amicus brief of the “vital
importance that the right to vote has on the health and future of this nation.” In their
considered opinion, “[t]he restoration of paroled or incarcerated felons’ right to vote does
not impinge upon the effective investigation or prosecution of criminal matters by state
law enforcement officials,” and, more to the point here
to the extent that felon disenfranchisement laws are viewed as a punishment rather
than as a means of voter qualification, these laws may, in fact, undermine the
rehabilitative aims of incarceration and parole. Amici recognize that an important
component of effective punishment is compelling incarcerated and paroled
individuals to become law-abiding, productive citizens through
rehabilitation…Thus law enforcement agencies spend substantial resources on
programs pursuing a rehabilitative penological goal [citing examples of such
programs]…The denial of the right to vote may, in fact, undermine these
rehabilitative aims of punishment…To the extent that disenfranchisement
distances the person from the community and serves no educational function, it
155

Christopher Uggen & Jeff Manza, Voting and Subsequent Crime & Arrest: Evidence from a Community
Sample, 36 Colum. Human Rights L. Rev. 193 (2004), available at
http://www.soc.umn.edu/%7Euggen/Uggen_Manza_04_CHRLR2.pdf.

weakens the impact of rehabilitative correctional programs and parole upon the
individual’s reintegration as a law-abiding member of the correctional facility or
community.156
Wesley E. Andrenyak, the current Chief Advocate for the Maine Corrections Department,
one of the two U.S. states in which all prisoners may vote, supports voting rights for
inmates given its rehabilitative function. Calling voting “one of the basic rights granted
citizens,” Mr. Andrenyak testified to legislators considering stripping Maine inmates’ of
their right to vote:
One of the many goals of … the Department of Corrections is to return a prisoner
to the community a better person…. An integral part of this process is the ability
for prisoners to become productive citizens in their community upon release. One
of the basic entitlements and responsibilities regarding civil responsibility is to
exercise one’s ability to vote. …While only a small number of prisoners
traditionally have chosen to participate, the fact that they have this ability sends
the message that the Department supports their successful return to the
community as a productive citizen. While prisoners are serving sentences,
regardless of the crime committed, it should not prohibit them from making
personal choices in who will be representing them, their families and
communities. …This serves to keep the individual involved in current affairs, and
connected to the community and his or her family during their sentence.157
Articles I and XVII of the American Declaration, interpreted in light of analogous
provisions of the American Convention, universal and regional human rights law as well
as state practice, recognize that individuals serving sentences, including those on parole
or probation have a right to rehabilitation. Inherent in this right is their right to vote.
Maintenance of voting rights while under sentence promotes rehabilitation, may reduce
recidivism, and leads to a greater likelihood of offenders’ successful re-entry into their
communities. This is a fact long recognized under universal and regional human rights

156

Muntaqim et al. v. Coombe et al., In Banc Brief of Amici Curiae Zachary W. Carter et al. In Support of
Plaintiffs-Appellants and in Support of Reversal, 01-7260-cv/04-3886-pr (March 30, 2005) at 9-12.
157
Testimony of Wesley E. Andrenyak, Chief Advocate, Maine Department of Corrections in opposition to
LD 200 (on file with ACLU).

laws and one supported by state practice based upon research studies. The State of New
Jersey’s felon disfranchisement law and policies serve no rehabilitative function and
accordingly violate individual Petitioners’ right to rehabilitation protected under Articles
I and XVII of the American Declaration.
V.
CONCLUSION AND PETITION FOR RELIEF
The facts stated above establish that the United States of America and the State of New
Jersey have violated the rights of Petitioners under Articles I, II, XVII, and XX of the
American Declaration. Individual Petitioners on parole and probation are disfranchised
by the State of New Jersey’s felon disfranchisement law. Additionally, the AfricanAmerican and Latino communities of New Jersey are being denied equal protection of
the laws because of the unjustified, disparate impact of the felon disfranchisement law on
those communities which dilutes their political power. These laws thus violate
Petitioners’ right to vote, their right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race
and their right to rehabilitation as protected by Articles I, II, XVII, and XX of the
Declaration and other international human rights instruments.
Thus, the Petitioners ask that the Commission provide the following relief:
1. Declare this petition to be admissible;
2. Investigate, with hearings and witnesses as necessary, the facts alleged by
Petitioners;
3. Declare the United States of America and the State of New Jersey in violation
of Articles I, II, XVII, and XX of the American Declaration;
5. Recommend such remedies as the Commission considers adequate and

100

effective for the violation of individual Petitioners’ fundamental human rights, including:
(a) Adoption by the United States and the State of New Jersey of measures
ending felon disfranchisement, at least post-incarceration, in the State of New Jersey and
throughout the country, in the states that still maintain felon disfranchisement laws that
fail to comport with internationally recognized standards.
(b) Imposition of a requirement that courts and public defenders notify
individuals pleading guilty to or being sentenced to a disfranchising offense when they
will lose their right to vote and the procedures they should follow to restore their voting
rights.

Dated: September 13, 2006

Respectfully submitted:

_________________

101

EXHIBIT B

102

CRIMINAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT LAWS
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

••••

,,0
Permanent disenfranchisement for all people with felony convictions, unless
government approves individual rights restoration
KY, VA
Permanent disenfranchisement for at least some people with criminal
convictions, unless government approves individual rights restoration
AL, AZ, DE, FL, MS, NV, TN, WY
Voting rights restored upon completion of sentence, including prison, parole,
and probation
AK, AR, GA, ID, IA, KS, LA, MD, MN, MO, NE,* NJ, NM, NC, OK, SC, TX,
WA, WV, WI
Voting rights restored automatically after release from prison and discharge
from parole (probationers may vote)
CA, CO, CT, NY,* SD
Voting rights restored automatically after release from prison
DC, HI, IL, IN, MA, MI, MT, NH, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, UT
No disenfranchisement for people with criminal convictions
ME, VT
* Nebraska imposes a two-year waiting period after completion of sentence.

103

Permanent disenfranchisement for all people with felony convictions, unless
government approves individual rights restoration
Kentucky
Virginia

Permanent disenfranchisement for at least some people with criminal convictions,
unless government approves individual rights restoration
Alabama: People with certain felony convictions involving moral
turpitude can apply to have their voting rights restored upon completion of
sentence and payment of fines and fees; people convicted of some specific
crimes are permanently barred from voting.
Arizona: People convicted of one felony can have their voting rights
restored upon completion of sentence, including all prison, parole, and
probation terms and payment of legal financial obligations. People
convicted of two or more felonies are permanently barred from voting
unless pardoned or restored by a judge.
Delaware: People with felony convictions can have their voting rights
restored five years after completion of sentence and payment of fines and
fees. People who are convicted of certain disqualifying felonies are
permanently disenfranchised.
Florida: Most people with felony convictions have their right to vote
restored upon completion of sentence and payment of restitution. People
with certain felony convictions, mostly violent crimes or sexual offenses,
must individually apply for restoration of rights or complete a fifteen-year
waiting period.
Mississippi: People who are convicted of any of ten types of disqualifying
offenses, including felonies and misdemeanors, are permanently
disenfranchised. Others never lose the right to vote.
Nevada: The right to vote is automatically restored to people convicted of
first-time non-violent felonies upon completion of sentence. People with
multiple felony convictions and those convicted of violent felonies cannot
vote unless pardoned or granted a restoration of civil rights from the court
in which they were convicted.
Tennessee: People convicted of some felonies after 1981 can have their
voting rights restored if they have completed their full sentences, paid all
restitution, and are current with child support payments. People convicted
of certain felonies cannot regain the right to vote unless pardoned.

104

Wyoming: People convicted of a non-violent felony for the first time can
have their rights restored five years after completion of sentence. People
with multiple felony convictions and those convicted of violent felonies
are permanently barred from voting, unless pardoned or restored to rights
by the Governor.

Voting rights restored upon completion of sentence, including prison, parole and
probation
Alaska
Arkansas1
Georgia
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska2
New Jersey
New Mexico
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Texas
Washington3
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Voting rights restored automatically after release from prison and discharge from
parole (probationers may vote)
California
Colorado
Connecticut
New York4
1

Under Arkansas law, failure to satisfy legal financial obligations associated with convictions may result in
post-sentence loss of voting rights.

In Nebraska, voting rights are restored two years after the completion of sentence.

Under Washington law, failure to satisfy legal financial obligations associated with convictions may result
in post-sentence loss of voting rights.

105

South Dakota
Voting rights restored automatically after release from prison
District of
Columbia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Utah

No disenfranchisement for people with criminal convictions
Maine
Vermont

In New York, individuals on parole may have their voting rights restored by a Certificate of Relief from
Disabilities or a Certificate of Good Conduct.

106

EXHIBIT C

107

THE

SENTENCING

l~PROJECT

Barriers to Democracy
A Petition to the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights for a
Thematic Hearing on Felony
Disenfranchisement Practices in the
United States and the Americas
The Sentencing Project
and
The International Human Rights Law Clinic
Washington College of Law
American University
May 2007

108

For further information:
The Sentencing Project
514 10th St. NW
Suite 1000
Washington, D.C. 20004
(202) 628-0871
www.sentencingproject.org

This report was written by Marisa Guevara and Dan O’Connor
of the Washington College of Law and edited by Marc Mauer
and Ryan S. King, executive director and policy analyst
respectively, of The Sentencing Project, and Rick Wilson,
director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic.
The Sentencing Project is a national non-profit organization
engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy
issues. The Sentencing Project works for a fair and effective
criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing
law and practice and alternatives to incarceration. To these
ends, it seeks to recast the public debate on crime and
punishment.
The International Human Rights Law Clinic at American
University's Washington College of Law is one of the oldest
and largest human rights clinics operating for academic credit
in the world. The clinic was founded in 1990 to provide pro
bono legal services in litigation and projects involving issues
of the application of international human rights norms.
Students working under the supervision of four full-time
faculty supervisors, provide a broad range of legal advice and
advocacy in domestic and international fora on matters
involving the application of human rights treaties and custom,
international criminal and humanitarian law and procedure,
and particularly, the application of international human rights
within the constitutional framework of the United States.

109

BARRIERS TO DEMOCRACY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

he United States stands alone on a global scale in its denial of voting rights
to persons who have been convicted of a felony. Currently 5.3 million
Americans are denied the right to vote due to a felony conviction. This

includes more than two million people who have completed their sentence, yet are
permanently disenfranchised in some states. The United States’ policy has had a
particularly disproportionate effect on minority communities with nearly two million
African Americans – 1 of every 12 adults -- disenfranchised nationally. In addition, a
recent study of ten states demonstrated disproportionate rates of disenfranchisement
for Latinos as well, raising concerns about the expanded impact of these policies.
United States’ policies are extreme among the world’s nations both in the breadth of
their coverage and in the proportion of the population affected.
The increasing international movement to identify the right to vote as fundamental
to a democracy threatens to marginalize further the United States’ electoral system as
a model of unfairness and inequality. Recent international law and court rulings
have clearly communicated that granting the right to vote to all citizens, regardless of
criminal history, is the only means by which societies can ensure that their
democracy is truly representative. The time is long overdue for the United States to
follow the lead of its hemispheric neighbors and the broader international
community, uphold treaties to which the United States is obligated, and take steps
toward universal suffrage by reforming its criminal disenfranchisement policies.

110

BARRIERS TO DEMOCRACY

LAWS IN THE AMERICAS
The United States is one of only ten countries in the Americas that practices
permanent disenfranchisement and does so to an extent that is without comparison.
The United States is the only country that imposes permanent disenfranchisement
based on broad categories of crimes such as felonies or crimes of “moral turpitude.”
For those countries in the Americas that do permit disenfranchisement after the
completion of sentence, this policy tends to be limited in duration or for specific
offense types.
Only twelve countries in the Americas practice post-incarceration (parole)
disenfranchisement and in all of them the practice is far more limited than in the
United States. Some nations only disenfranchise persons beyond incarceration for
specific crimes or based on the length of their sentence. In contrast, the 35 states in
the United States that disenfranchise persons on parole have a blanket prohibition on
voting, regardless of the offense or length of sentence.

LAWS OUTSIDE THE AMERICAS
Only three countries outside the Americas deny the right to vote to individuals upon
completion of sentence and these have narrow provisions governing the practice.
Countries in the Americas generally limit post-sentence disenfranchisement to certain
offense types and for defined durations that eventually expire. In addition, a
significant number of nations do not impose any restriction on the right to vote as a
result of a felony conviction, including while incarcerated. In Europe, for example,
17 nations permit all citizens to vote regardless of conviction status.

111

III

BARRIERS TO DEMOCRACY

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE: INTERNATIONAL TREATY LAW
International treaty law is consistent in its establishment and protection of universal
suffrage while recognizing the fundamental importance of the right to vote. This
broad recognition has led to an emerging norm of customary international law. As
the right to universal and equal suffrage gains support in international law, the
practice of denying voting rights based on a criminal conviction emerges as a
violation of this evolving standard. The American Convention on Human Rights,
the European Convention on Human Rights, and the African Charter on Human
and People’s Rights all contain provisions that protect and promote democratic
systems of government. Two United Nations documents, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, also
protect the right to vote and support the international custom of universal suffrage.
Finally, a number of governing documents for members of the Organization of
American States (OAS) establish and protect a right to vote. These include the OAS
Charter, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the Declaration on the Principles
of Freedom and Expression, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.
At the national level, 179 member nations of the United Nations protect the right to
vote, and 109 include a reference to either the protection of “universal” or “equal”
suffrage. Among the member states of the Organization of American States,
universal suffrage is guaranteed in 27 state constitutions.

112

BARRIERS TO DEMOCRACY

INTERNATIONAL CASELAW: APPLYING UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE TO
CRIMINAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT
While these documents clearly demonstrate an international commitment to
universal suffrage, a growing body of international jurisprudence is extending this
standard to disenfranchisement provisions and striking down efforts by states to deny
the right to vote to persons based on their criminal history. Since 1996, the
Canadian Supreme Court, South African Constitutional Court, Israeli Supreme
Court, and the European Court of Human Rights have all issued decisions
condemning disenfranchisement policies as overbroad and incongruous with
fundamental democratic principles. Moreover, in each of these decisions the court
struck down policies disenfranchising persons while currently incarcerated.
Obviously, more restrictive practices such as denying the right to vote to persons
under community supervision or after the completion of sentence would be
considered equally egregious violations of the principles of universal suffrage.

INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS
The governing texts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights view
representative democracy as a critical factor in the establishment and protection of all
human rights. Fundamental to the enforcement of human rights and the creation of
a representative democracy is the right to vote. Past jurisprudence by the
Commission regarding voting rights for residents of the District of Columbia held
that the United States did not have objective, reasonable, and proportionate
justifications for denying District residents equal voting rights. In that case, the
Commission established a framework of proportionality by which voting rights cases
should be evaluated. Restrictions upon the right of civic engagement must be

113

BARRIERS TO DEMOCRACY

justified by the need of these limitations in the framework of a democratic society
based on means, motives, reasonability, and proportionality.

CALL FOR ACTION
The United States’ policy of criminal disenfranchisement is extreme by every
international metric, and there is a compelling need for reform. We therefore request
a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to highlight the
American policy relative to international law and practice, as well as in regard to
binding treaty obligations. It is only through this venue that we can hope to
overcome the injustice experienced by more than 5 million Americans and remedy a
blight on United States democratic practices.

114

PAGE 1

BARRIERS TO DEMOCRACY

INTRODUCTION
In the United States, the right to vote has been deemed “fundamental” 1 by the
United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found that the right to vote is so
important in a democracy that all other rights “are illusory if the right to vote is
undermined.” 2 Despite these strong declarations, the United States disenfranchises
far more people for criminal convictions than other democratic nations. In many
cases, these draconian sentencing policies trigger an automatic suspension of voting
rights that may result in a lifetime ban. An estimated 5.3 million people in the
United States do not have a voice in the political process because they have been
convicted of a crime. 3 Of these 5.3 million people, three-fourths are not
incarcerated, but are living in the community either on probation or parole
supervision, or have completed their felony sentence. 4
Additionally, the impact of the United States’ disenfranchisement policies is
experienced most acutely in communities of color, thereby exacerbating enduring
racial inequalities in political representation that have existed since the initial
extension of the right to vote to African Americans 150 years ago. Two million
African Americans, one in 12 residents, cannot vote due to a felony conviction. 5
This is nearly five times the rate of disenfranchisement for the non-African American
population. In some states, one in four black males is prohibited from voting due to

Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 371 (1886)
Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17 (1964)
3
Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen, LOCKED OUT: FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, Oxford University Press, 2006, at 250 (Table A3.3).
4
Id.
5
Id. at 253 (Table A3.4).
2

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a felony conviction. 6 In addition, a recent study of ten states demonstrated
disproportionate rates of disenfranchisement for Latinos as well, raising concerns
about the expanded impact of these policies. 7
The United States is one of only ten countries in the Americas that permits
permanent disenfranchisement. Among those nations, the United States is the only
country that permits permanent disenfranchisement based on broad categories of
crimes such as felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude. 8 Not only does the
United States disenfranchise permanently, it also imposes disenfranchisement for
long periods during and after incarceration. Even American countries that
disenfranchise generally temper their policies based on several factors. For some,
disenfranchisement may only be imposed for certain crimes that involve elections or
voting. For others, the length of the sentence determines whether a person will be
disenfranchised. The result of these harsh sentencing and disenfranchisement policies
in the United States is the corruption of the democratic process.
While the United States continues to disenfranchise incarcerated persons, many
countries in the world already grant the right to vote to people currently imprisoned.
Constitutional courts in Canada, South Africa and Israel all have held that the right
to vote must be preserved for those who are imprisoned. These courts have found
that the denial of the right to vote to people in prison undermines the basis of a

Jamie Fellner and Marc Mauer, Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United
States, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH AND THE SENTENCING PROJECT, 1998.
7
Marisa J. Demeo and Steven Ochoa, Diminished Voting Power in the Latino Community: The Impact of Felony
Disenfranchisement Laws in Ten Targeted States, MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND
EDUCATION FUND, 2003.
8
The United States is governed by a federal system in which each state is permitted to establish rules controlling
the implementation of elections, within the parameters of certain constitutional protections. Thus, each state has
unique regulations governing which categories of persons with a felony conviction are permitted to participate.
Currently, there are 10 states in which an individual can lose the right to vote for life as a result of a felony
conviction, resulting in two million disenfranchised residents.

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legitimate democracy. The European Court of Human Rights found that universal
suffrage has become a basic principle in international human rights law and declared
that a currently incarcerated person’s right to vote is guaranteed by the European
Convention on Human Rights. 9
Decisions such as the one by the European Court of Human Rights demonstrate a
shift in the interpretation of regional documents toward the protection and
enforcement of democratic rights, 10 which rely on the principle of universal and
equal suffrage. 11 The shift toward democratic institutions follows a progression
allowing increasing numbers of people who would otherwise be denied the franchise
to be permitted to meaningfully participate in their governments. Nations have
begun to recognize that voting should not be subject to a moral litmus test and that
all citizens, regardless of their status or past behaviors, possess a right to participate in
their government. This right of political participation is a necessary condition for the
achievement of other human rights. 12 In order to preserve universal and equal
suffrage, and to uphold it as an emerging norm of customary international law, it is
important that this Commission recognize and protect the right to vote.
One of the basic foundations of democracy is the right of the citizenry to exercise
their right to free expression and choose their government via the ballot box. It is
evident from the governing texts of the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights that it views representative democracy as the glue that binds together all
human rights. 13 This Commission’s interpretations of the American Convention and

Hirst v. United Kingdom (Hirst No. 2), [2004] ECHR 121 (Eur. Ct. H.R.) at ¶52.
Reginald Ezetah, The Right to Democracy: A Qualitative Inquiry, 22 BROOK. J. INT’L L. 495, 512 (1997).
11
See id. at 515.
12
See id. at 595 (“The reasoning is straightforward: citizens will never attain sufficient power to advance their
own welfare unless they possess a voice in the decisions of their government. One may conclude that human
rights law does not favor elections to the exclusion or even subordination of other rights, but establishes
participatory rights as a necessary [though certainly not sufficient] condition for the achievement of other human
rights”).
13
Andres Aylwin Azocar et al. v. Chile, Case 11.863, Report No. 137/99 (1999)
10

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the American Declaration are demonstrative of its duties to promote representative
democracy and to safeguard human rights. Fundamental to the enforcement of
human rights and the creation of a representative democracy is the right to vote.
This report will demonstrate that the disenfranchisement policies of the United
States are contrary to the principle of universal and equal suffrage and are out of line
with international norms of disenfranchisement.
•

First, we will examine current disenfranchisement policies regarding persons
in prison and other categories of people with felony convictions in the
United States.

•

Second, we will look at policies regarding disenfranchisement in other
member states of the Organization of American States (OAS).

•

Third, we will consider these hemispheric policies relative to
disenfranchisement practices from other regions of the world.

•

Fourth, we will establish that there is an emerging customary law regarding
the principle of universal and equal suffrage that results in granting the right
to vote to persons in prison. We will establish this norm by examining
international instruments as well as the decisions of international and
domestic courts.

•

Finally, we request that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
interpret the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights and the InterAmerican Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man in a manner that
protects the right to vote, promotes universal and equal suffrage, and
condemns restrictive felony disenfranchisement policies like those of the
United States.

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DISENFRANCHISEMENT PRACTICES IN THE UNITED
STATES, THE AMERICAS, AND THE WORLD
Disenfranchisement policies deny voting rights to millions of people around the
world. Among nations for which data are available, the United States disenfranchises
more incarcerated persons than any other country, by any measure: categories of
persons disenfranchised; percentage of the total population; or total number of
persons in prison. The United States even disenfranchises persons who are sentenced
to non-prison penalties, such as community supervision, while few other countries
do so. The number of disenfranchised people who have fully completed their
sentences – incarceration plus any period of post-incarceration supervision - is higher
in the United States than any other country in the world.
Incarceration Disenfranchisement
In this report, the loss of the vote that occurs during the time that a person is
physically in prison is called “incarceration disenfranchisement.” This practice is the
most common form of disenfranchisement in the world. This section will review the
practices of incarceration disenfranchisement in the United States, the practices in
the Americas, and compare these provisions with those of other nations.

The United States
As we will demonstrate in this paper, there is international momentum among states
to curtail their incarceration disenfranchisement policies. However, the United
States continues to aggressively disenfranchise those persons who are incarcerated. 14
At the end of 2005, there were over 1.5 million people in prison in the United
States. 15 Most of them were serving sentences in state prisons, while almost 180,000
were in federal prisons. In 48 of 50 states and the District of Columbia, all

Only the states of Maine and Vermont do not practice incarceration disenfranchisement.
See Paige M. Harrison and Allen J. Beck, Prisoners in 2005, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, NCJ
215092, (November 2006).
15

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incarcerated adults convicted of a felony are denied the right to vote. 16 This
translates into 1.3 million Americans being denied the right to vote due to a current
sentence of incarceration. 17 Moreover, due to racially disparate patterns of arrest and
conviction, the impact of this policy is felt particularly acutely in the African
American community. Of the 1.3 million persons currently incarcerated and denied
the right to vote, 51% (667,000) are African American. 18 Thus, despite representing
only 12% of the United States general population, African Americans comprise half
of those disenfranchised due to a current sentence of incarceration.
Not only are the laws that prohibit people in prison from voting in the United Sates
severe, but their impact is exacerbated by the elevated rates of incarceration in the
United States relative to other countries. Because of the sheer number of people that
the United States incarcerates and the broad reach of its disenfranchisement policies,
the denial of the right to vote has a significant impact on American democracy.
Disenfranchisement scholars Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen found that the
denial of the right to vote could have affected several United States Senate elections
and a presidential election because the United States disenfranchises not just people
who are incarcerated but also those serving sentences in their communities and those
who have completed their sentences. 19

THE SENTENCING PROJECT, Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States, at http://
sentencingproject.org/PublicationDetails.aspx?PublicationID=335, (last visited April 8, 2007).
17
Manza and Uggen, supra note 3.
18
Id. at 253 (Table A3.4).
19
Id. at 190-197.

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The Americas
Incarceration disenfranchisement is the most common form of disenfranchisement in
the Americas. As seen in Table A, 33 member states of the OAS practice some form
of disenfranchisement of persons in prison serving sentences. 20 Twenty-one countries
in the Americas prevent all persons in prison from voting. Some countries
disenfranchise individuals who are incarcerated based on the length of their sentence.
In Belize, that time is a year or more, while in Jamaica all persons sentenced to serve
six months or more have their vote suspended for their term of incarceration. Rather
than use the length of sentence as the basis for loss of voting rights, a few countries in
the Americas disenfranchise incarcerated persons based on conviction for specific
crimes. For example, Guyana only disenfranchises persons incarcerated for electoral
offenses, while Chile only disenfranchises those who are incarcerated due to a
conviction under Article 16 of the Chilean Constitution, crimes against the state.

The analysis in this report is based on a review of the state constitutions of OAS member states and supporting
statutory or legal documents. In some cases, state policies are not explicitly defined in these documents, and so
the relevant policy is categorized as unknown in Table A.

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TABLE A—ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES MEMBERS’ DISENFRANCHISEMENT POLICIES
COUNTRY

Disenfranchise During

Disenfranchise During Parole or

Incarceration

Probation

Antigua & Barbuda

YES

UNKNOWN

Argentina

YES

UNKNOWN

Bahamas, The

YES

Barbados

YES

UNKNOWN

Belize

YES (sentences > 1 Year)

YES (election offenses)

Bolivia

YES (certain offenses)

UNKNOWN

Brazil

YES

UNKNOWN

Canada

Chile

YES (crimes against state)

YES (certain offenses, up to 10 yrs)

Permanently Disenfranchise

YES (certain offenses)

Colombia

YES

UNKNOWN

Costa Rica

YES

YES (judicial discretion)

Cuba

YES

YES (judicial discretion)

YES (certain offenses)

UNKNOWN

Dominican Republic

YES

YES (certain offenses)

Ecuador

YES

UNKNOWN

El Salvador

YES

YES (electoral fraud)

UNKNOWN

YES

UNKNOWN

Guyana

YES (election offenses)

Haiti

YES (certain offenses)

Honduras

YES (certain offenses)

YES (judicial discretion)

Jamaica

YES (sentences > 6 months)

Mexico

YES

YES (certain offenses)

Nicaragua

YES

UNKNOWN

Panama

YES

Paraguay

YES

Peru

YES

YES (parliamentary

discretion)

YES (certain offenses)

Dominica

Grenada
Guatemala

St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent & The Grenadines

YES

YES (judicial discretion)

YES (sentences > 1 Year)

Uruguay

YES

YES (certain offenses)

USA

YES

Venezuela

YES

Total Disenfranchisement

No Disenfranchisement

Suriname
Trinidad & Tobago

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The World
In contrast to the restrictive policies of the United States and other countries in the
Americas, many countries in other parts of the world are expanding voting rights to
persons with felony convictions. These nations include members of the Council of
Europe, Canada, and South Africa. These countries are finding that
disenfranchisement is a disproportionate punishment and that the government has
no justifiable interest in stripping away the right to political participation for those
who are incarcerated. For example, the law in Germany not only permits currently
incarcerated persons to vote, but requires authorities to encourage and assist people
in prison to exercise their voting rights. 21 Recently, the Canadian Supreme Court, in
Sauvé No. 2, stated, “Denying citizens the vote denies the basis of democratic
legitimacy… if we accept that governmental power in a democracy flows from the
citizens, it is difficult to see how that power can legitimately be used to disfranchise
the very citizens from whom the government’s power flows.” 22
Countries in Europe and elsewhere also incarcerate at much lower rates than the
United States and other countries in the Americas. In Japan the rate of incarceration
is 62 people per 100,000 and in Germany it is 93 per 100,000 but in the United
States that number spikes to 737 per 100,000. 23 In addition to the United States,
eight other American countries are among the top 20 countries ranked by the
number incarcerated per capita. 24
Due to these high incarceration rates, the incarceration disenfranchisement practices
of the United States and several other countries in the Americas have a far greater
21

Fellner and Mauer, supra note 6.
Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer) (Sauvé No. 2), [2002] 3 S.C.R. 519, 2002 SCC 68 at ¶32.
23
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR PRISON STUDIES, World Prison Brief, (2007) at
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps/worldbrief/world_brief.html
24
Id. St. Kitts and Nevis is ranked 5 in the world with 547/100,000; Belize is 6 with 505/100,000; Cuba is 8
with 487/100,000; Bahamas is 12 with 462/100,000; Dominica is 15 with 419/100,000; Barbados is 17 with
367/100,000; Panama is 18 with 364/100,000; Suriname is 20 with 356/100,000.
22

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impact on their ability to promote universal and equal suffrage than the policies in
other countries. But it is clear from the governing instruments of the OAS that its
members have a duty to promote representative democracy through universal and
equal suffrage. A simple way to protect and promote universal and equal suffrage
would be to follow Germany’s approach, which not only allows people in prison to
vote, but encourages them to exercise their right to vote. “The universality of the
franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of each and
every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood.” 25
Disenfranchisement During Probation
When an individual is sentenced to probation, he or she is allowed to remain in the
community but is under supervision by a court. While there may be forms of
probation practiced throughout the Americas, specific data on the
disenfranchisement of probationers in the majority of those countries is unavailable.
Therefore, this section will focus primarily on the United States practice, for which
data is readily available.

The United States
In the United States, there were approximately 4.1 million men and women on
probation in the United States at the end of 2005. 26 Of the total 5.3 million United
States citizens who are disenfranchised, 1.3 million of them are on probation. 27
These United States citizens are scattered in 30 states that require disenfranchisement
of persons sentenced to felony probation. 28 In Texas and Georgia alone there are
more than 450,000 people who are disenfranchised as a result of their probationary
status. 29 As with the disenfranchisement of persons in prison, the denial of the right
25

Minister of Home Affairs v. National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Re-Integration of Offenders (NICRO),
2005 (3) SA 280 (CC) at ¶ 28, quoting August v. Electoral Commission, 1999 (3) SA 1 (CC) at ¶ 17.
26
Lauren E. Glaze and Thomas P. Bonczar, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005, BUREAU OF
JUSTICE STATISTICS, NCJ 215091, (November 2006).
27
Manza and Uggen, supra note 3.
28
See THE SENTENCING PROJECT, supra note 16, at 3.
29
Manza and Uggen, supra note 3.

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to vote to persons on probation has a disproportionate impact on the African
American community. There are 448,000 African Americans disenfranchised due to
a current felony probation sentence, representing one-third of all disenfranchised
persons on probation. 30 This is nearly three times the African American proportion
of the general population in the United States.

The Americas
As seen in Table A, in the Americas, twelve countries disenfranchise individuals who
are not currently imprisoned, but whether that deprivation applies to persons who
have been released from prison (parolees) or those who were never imprisoned but
sentenced to supervision within their communities (probation) is difficult to
distinguish. 31 Belize and Chile disenfranchise after imprisonment, and since
probationers are not sentenced to prison, it can be concluded that those restrictions
are for parolees only and do not apply for probationers.

The World
Information on disenfranchisement for persons on probation across the world is
generally unavailable. There is some data on those countries that disenfranchise
formerly incarcerated persons, which will be discussed in the following section.
However, this category does not apply to those who are sentenced to nonincarceration sentences of probation. This lack of data prevents an accurate analysis
of the situation of the disenfranchisement of probationers in countries outside of the
Americas.
Post-Incarceration Disenfranchisement
Post-incarceration disenfranchisement is the practice of denying the vote to persons
after they are released from prison. Post-incarceration disenfranchisement can be
imposed as part of a sentence or as a part of a rehabilitation period after release from
30

Id. at 253 (Table A3.4).
An additional ten nations have statutes that are somewhat ambiguous on this issue and may disenfranchise
persons in this category. These are incorporated in the “unknown” category in Table A.

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prison. The United States practices post-incarceration disenfranchisement more
widely than any country in the Americas or the world. A few countries in the
Americas practice such disenfranchisement, but it is for very specific and limited
crimes. Almost all other countries in the democratic world have banned any form of
post-incarceration disenfranchisement, finding that it erodes the democratic process
and is contrary to the norms of equal and universal suffrage.

The United States
The United States disenfranchises formerly incarcerated persons on a broad scale
during parole. Parole is a period in which adults are conditionally released from
prison into community supervision, whether by parole board decision or by
mandatory conditional release after serving a prison term. Parolees are subject to
being returned to jail or prison for rule violations or other offenses. In 35 U.S. states,
the period of disenfranchisement continues through parole. 32 Recent estimates
reveal that there were approximately 478,000 disenfranchised parolees in these states
in 2005. 33 Forty-six percent (219,000) of those individuals disenfranchised while
currently under parole supervision were African American. 34 This figure is nearly
four times the proportion of the general population represented by African
Americans.
Parole periods can vary greatly depending upon the state and type of sentence. This
may range from a typical period of two or three years after release from prison to
lifetime supervision in some cases. In addition to parole, some states have legislation
that disenfranchises individuals for certain time periods after release from prison
based on specific crimes.

See THE SENTENCING PROJECT, supra note 16, at 3.
Manza and Uggen, supra note 3.
34
Id. at 253 (Table A3.4).
33

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The Americas
There are few countries in the Americas that practice post-incarceration
disenfranchisement, and none impose it to the degree that it is practiced in the
United States. Ten countries, including the United States, practice
disenfranchisement after a person is released from prison as part of a sentence. The
other countries are Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Mexico, and St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and Uruguay.
Some of these countries disenfranchise based on specific crimes. Guyana, for
example, only bars those convicted of electoral fraud from voting for a five-year
period. 35 The Constitutional Courts of Chile are permitted to disenfranchise
individuals convicted of crimes under Article 8 of the Constitution, which includes
“. . . inten[tion] to propagate doctrines attempting against the family, or which
advocate violence or a concept of society, the State or the juridical order, of a
totalitarian character or based on class warfare.” 36 Chilean courts are permitted to
disenfranchise individuals convicted under this article for up to ten years from the
date of the sentence. Other countries disenfranchise based on length of sentence.
Belize, for example, disenfranchises anyone convicted of a crime with a sentence
greater than one year for a period of six years.

The World
There are few countries outside of the Americas that practice post-incarceration
disenfranchisement. Few countries permit post incarceration disenfranchisement by
law. None of these countries categorically disenfranchise all persons who have
previously been incarcerated for a period of time, as is the case in the majority of
U.S. states. In Cameroon, the electoral laws bar persons from voting who have “been
convicted of any offence against the security of the State” for a period of ten years.

35
36

GUYANA CONST. Art 159, § (4)
CHILE CONST. Art 8

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In the Philippines, persons sentenced to a prison term of one year or more are barred
from voting for a period of five years after completion of sentence. After such a
period, the right to vote is automatically restored. The Federated States of
Micronesia also disenfranchise after a person is released from prison. The
Micronesian states of Kosrae 37 and Yap 38 both prohibit individuals serving a parole
period from voting.
Post-Sentence Disenfranchisement
Post-sentence disenfranchisement is the practice of the continued loss of the right to
vote for convicted persons after they have completed their sentence, including any
terms of community supervision. In the United States, post-sentence
disenfranchisement almost always results in permanent disenfranchisement due to
difficult voting restoration processes. By contrast, there are very few countries in the
Americas that disenfranchise after persons have completed their entire sentence, and
the countries that do so only do so in very limited, specific instances. There are very
few countries in the rest of the world that practice such restrictive policies for people
who have completed their sentences.

The United States
There are currently 11 states in the United States that disenfranchise persons after
completion of sentence. 39 In 10 of these states, some or all persons convicted of a
felony are essentially permanently disenfranchised. 40 In total, post-sentence
disenfranchisement denies the fundamental right to vote to 2.1 million people in the
United States 41 In some states, this can include an 18-year old convicted of a firsttime non-violent offense and sentenced to probation. For example, the state of
Alabama disenfranchises all persons convicted of a crime involving “moral

KOSRAE STATE CODE, Tit.3, Pt. I, Ch. 1, §3.102
YAP STATE CODE, Title 7, §102(d)
39
See THE SENTENCING PROJECT, supra note 16, at 3.
40
In addition, the state of Nebraska imposes a two-year waiting period after completion of sentence.
41
See THE SENTENCING PROJECT, supra note 16, at 3.
38

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turpitude.” 42 Under this law, a person convicted of a first-time offense such as
passing a fraudulent check could permanently lose the right to vote.
The only means by which these persons can have their voting rights restored is
through action by the state, variously by a pardon or restoration of rights from the
governor or board or pardons, or by legislative action. In many of these jurisdictions,
restoration of rights is, as a practical matter, unattainable for most convicted persons.
For example, in Virginia, the only way an individual can have his or her voting rights
restored is by executive pardon of the governor. 43 A person convicted of a felony in
Virginia cannot even apply for the franchise until five years after completion of
sentence. 44 After such a period is completed, he or she needs to file a rather lengthy
petition to the governor asking for a pardon. If the governor chooses to grant a
pardon, then the governor must give an explanation to the legislature as to why a
pardon was granted. The governor is not required to do so if the petition is denied.
The likelihood of actually getting a pardon granted in jurisdictions that require
executive pardon for restoration of voting rights like Virginia is extremely low. In
Virginia, voting rights were restored to only 5,043 individuals out of 243,902
disenfranchised persons during the years of 1982-2004, or about 2%. 45 Nevada only
restored voting rights to 50 formerly incarcerated persons out of an estimated 43,395
during 2004. In Florida, only 19% of requests were granted between 1999 and
2004. 46

THE ALABAMA ALLIANCE TO RESTORE THE VOTE AND THE SENTENCING PROJECT, Who is
Not Voting in November? An Analysis of Felony Disenfranchisement in Alabama, Oct. 2006, at
http://www.sentencingproject.org/
Admin/Documents/publications/fd_alabama.pdf, (last visited April 8, 2007)
43
Margaret Colgate Love, Relief from the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: A State-by-State
Resource Guide, Feb. 2007, at http://www.sentencingproject.org/PublicationDetails.aspx?PublicationID=486
(last visited April 8, 2007).
44
Id.
45
Id.
46
Id.

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The Americas
In addition to the United States, only nine other countries in the Americas
disenfranchise individuals who have completely served their sentence. While these
other nine countries permit the practice of denying voting rights for life to persons
who have been convicted of a felony, in practice, there is little documentation as to
the prevalence of this prohibition. The extent of use in the United States
distinguishes that country’s policy as being exceptionally restrictive.
For example, the laws and constitutions of the Dominican Republic, Suriname and
Uruguay all allow the state to permanently remove the franchise of formerly
incarcerated persons, but the categories of individuals who are potentially subjected
to this restriction is limited. In the Dominican Republic, permanent
disenfranchisement is reserved only for crimes against the state: treason, espionage or
“taking up arms” against the state. 47 Suriname and Uruguay have broad policies
regarding permanent disenfranchisement. Article 58 of the Constitution of
Suriname states that people shall be denied the right to vote when it has been
“denied by an irrevocable judicial decision.” It is unclear to what extent the courts in
Suriname actually revoke the right to vote in practice. Article 80 of the Constitution
of Uruguay permits the state to permanently disenfranchise individuals who
habitually engage in morally dishonest activities, to those who are “a member of
social or political organizations which advocate the destruction of the fundamental
bases of the nation by violence or propaganda inciting to violence,” and to those who
show “a continuing lack of good conduct.” Again, it is unclear what the practice is,
and the extent to which these provisions are applied.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC CONST., Art. 14 “the rights of citizenship are lost by an irrevocable conviction for
treason, espionage, or conspiracy against the Republic, or for taking up arms or lending aid or participating in any
attack against it.”

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The World
There are only three other countries outside of the Americas in which it is known
that there is a policy of disenfranchising persons after completion of sentence. Two
of these countries are constitutional monarchies. Seychelles has the most restrictive
disenfranchisement laws outside of the Americas. It permanently disenfranchises
individuals who are sentenced to a prison term. Jordan permanently disenfranchises
anyone sentenced to one year or more in prison unless a pardon is granted. 48 Tonga,
another constitutional monarchy, permanently disenfranchises individuals sentenced
to two years of prison or more. 49

LEGAL ANALYSIS
As more nations adopt increasingly democratic institutions of government, the right
to universal and equal suffrage is being recognized in more countries. The broad
recognition of a right to universal and equal suffrage has led to an emerging norm of
customary international law. As the right to universal and equal suffrage gains
support in international law, the practice of disenfranchisement emerges as a
violation of this evolving standard. This section will describe customary
international law in general, and analyze universal and equal suffrage as an emerging
customary international law.
Next, this section examines the various international instruments that protect a right
to universal and equal suffrage. These include the United Nations documents of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Inter-American documents of the American
Convention on Human Rights and the American Declaration on the Rights and
Duties of Man, the European Convention on Human Rights, and lastly, the African
Charter.

48
49

Law Of Election To The House Of Deputies, Law No. 22 for the Year 1986
TONGA CONST, Art. 23

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Finally, this section presents recent court cases that have ordered the granting of the
right to vote to persons in prison. The first cases are from Canada, Sauvé 1 and
Sauvé 2, where a petitioner in prison, Rick Sauvé, challenged the constitutionality of
Canada’s electoral law, which prohibited all persons in prison from voting. The
second case is from South Africa, which adopted the reasoning of Sauvé 2 to find
unconstitutional the legislation that denied the right to vote to persons in prison.
There were similar outcomes in cases in Israel and the European Court of Human
Rights. The legal analysis section concludes that denying the right to vote to persons
in prison is contrary to, and a violation of, the emerging norm of universal and equal
suffrage.
Universal, Equal, and Non-Discriminatory Suffrage is an Emerging Norm of
Customary International Law

Customary International Law
Customary international law evolves from state practice. As set forth in the Statute
of the International Court of Justice, international custom is “evidence of a general
practice accepted as law.” 50 In the United States, customary international law is
often described as having two components: sufficient state practice, and opinio juris, a
sense of legal obligation to follow the practice. 51 This Commission has often relied on
the existence of norms of customary international law in its jurisprudence. In order
for universal, equal, and non-discriminatory suffrage to rise to the level of customary
international law, it must be shown that states have practiced universal, equal, and
non-discriminatory suffrage for a sufficient duration, with sufficient uniformity and
generality. 52 In showing uniformity and generality, it has been stated that authorities

Richard Wilson, The Right to Universal, Equal, and Non-Discriminatory Suffrage As a Norm of Customary
International Law: Protecting the Prisoner’s Right to Vote (forthcoming 2007), citing Statute of the International
Court of Justice, 59 Stat. 1055, 3 Bevans 1179, Article 38(b) (1945).
51
E.g., Kane v. Winn, 319 F.Supp.2d 162, 167 (D. Mass. 2004).
52
See Wilson, supra note 50, at 6.

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will consider the actions of a significant number of states and that neither an absolute
consensus of states nor consent are required to establish customary international
law. 53
In order to find customary international law, it is not necessary to restrict the search
to state practice alone. There are other sources of evidence for existence of custom,
including judicial decisions, scholarly writing, and “the practice of international
organs, and resolutions relating to legal questions in the United Nations General
Assembly.” 54 Each year since 1991, the United Nations General Assembly has
adopted resolutions that address elections, “including ‘the right to vote freely…by
universal and equal suffrage.” 55 In addition, widely ratified treaties may have a
synergistic impact on customary international law. “A widely ratified treaty can
constitute evidence of the expression of a customary norm,” 56 and at the same time it
may “create a prevalent pattern of behavior which, as ‘customary law’ obligates states
that have not accepted the treaty.” 57 Thus a widely ratified treaty may provide
evidence of a customary international norm but also establish that particular custom
as international law.

Universal, Equal and Non-discriminatory Suffrage is an Emerging Norm of
Customary International Law
It is possible to show the emerging norm of universal, equal and non-discriminatory
suffrage by examining state practice. To review state practice, this report will focus
on constitutional provisions. For the member states of the OAS, universal suffrage is
guaranteed in 27 state constitutions. 58 Of the 190 members of the United Nations,
53

Id., quoting Brownlie and Charney.
Id. at 9, quoting Brownlie.
55
Id. at 19, citing UN General Assembly, “Promoting and Consolidating Democracy,” UN Doc. A/RES/55/96
(29 Feb. 2001), at Article 1(d)(ii) (guaranteeing “the right to vote freely…by universal and equal suffrage.”).
56
Id. at 9.
57
Id., quoting Franck.
58
Data gathered by students at the Washington College of Law, International Human Rights Clinic; sources
include State Department Country Reports of 2003 and the State Constitutions of the OAS member states.
54

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data was compiled for 182 of those countries, and all but three included a right to
vote. 59 Furthermore, “109 of those 179 countries included reference to either the
protection of ‘universal’ or ‘equal’ suffrage.” 60
There has been a shift in regional documents toward the protection and enforcement
of democracy, 61 which itself is grounded in universal and equal suffrage. 62 The
American Convention on Human Rights, 63 the European Convention on Human
Rights, 64 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 65 all contain
provisions that protect and promote democratic systems of government. Between
the state practice and the treaty provisions, “democracy has achieved universal
recognition as an international legal right.” 66
The shift toward democracy follows a progression that allows more and more people
to be counted as citizens and to participate in their governments. There has long
been a history of disenfranchisement of different groups of people, based on
characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, property, and gender. As democratic
societies continue to evolve, more and more people are being granted the franchise.
In the history of the United States, for example, this process has happened through
constitutional amendments. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution declared “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.” 67 In 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment granted

Id.
See Wilson, supra note 50, at 16.
61
Ezetah, supra note 10, at 512.
62
See id. at 515.
63
See American Convention on Human Rights, art, 23, Nov. 22, 1969.
64
See First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, art. 3, Mar. 20, 1952.
65
See African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 12, June 27, 1981.
66
Wilson, supra note 50 at 14, quoting Cerna at 290.
67
U.S. CONST. amend. XV, § 1.
60

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women the right to vote, 68 once again expanding suffrage to include more citizens
and in turn more accurately reflecting the will of the people. Several of the OAS
states restrict the right to vote purely on the basis of age and criminal conduct, but
enfranchise anyone who is a citizen and who has reached the age of majority. 69
Recent history clearly illustrates that states are recognizing that voting should not be
subjected to a moral litmus test and that all citizens, regardless of their past
behaviors, possess a right to participate in electoral politics. This right is a necessary
condition for the achievement of other human rights. 70 In order to protect universal
and equal suffrage, and to uphold it as an emerging norm of customary international
law, it is critical that states build upon this pattern of expanding voting rights and
protect the right of persons in prison to vote.

THE INTERNATIONAL CUSTOM OF SUFFRAGE UNDER
TREATY LAW AND ITS APPLICATION TO PERSONS IN
PRISON IN RECENT CASE LAW
Treaty Law

United Nations
The United Nations has two relevant treaties that address the issue of voting rights.
The first is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the second is the
ICCPR. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 21(1) states that
“[e]veryone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or
through freely chosen representatives.” The notion that these representatives are
“freely chosen” is connected not just to choice, but also to the free exercise of that
68

U.S. CONST. amend. XIX, § 1.
See, e.g. appended chart of OAS states and their constitutional provisions and legislation that relates to voting
rights.
70
See Ezetah, supra note 10, at 595 (“The reasoning is straightforward: citizens will never attain sufficient power
to advance their own welfare unless they possess a voice in the decisions of their government. One may conclude
that human rights law does not favor elections to the exclusion or even subordination of other rights, but
establishes participatory rights as a necessary [though certainly not sufficient] condition for the achievement of
other human rights”).
69

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choice. For persons who are disenfranchised, there is no free exercise and no free
choice, thus representing an additional sentence. Disenfranchisement strips this
right away from persons who have already served their initial sentence.
Article 21(3) of the Declaration further protects democratic ideals by stating: “The
will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be
expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal
suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.” In
the first part of the clause, the drafters identify the delicate balance between the
authority of the government and the people who are governed. The drafters
recognized that the basis of the authority of government lies in the people. But in
the case of disenfranchisement, the will is not accurately expressed and therefore the
authority of the government is diminished. In order to strengthen democratic rule,
the government must accurately reflect the will of the people, and suffrage must be
universal and equal. When people with convictions are disenfranchised, there is no
universal and equal suffrage, and there is no accurate reflection of the will of the
people.
The ICCPR is a United Nations instrument that has been ratified by 29 of the 35
member states of the OAS, and 160 countries around the globe. Article 25 of the
ICCPR governs the ability of people to take part in public affairs and government.
Article 25(b) specifically requires that every citizen shall have the right and
opportunity “to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by
universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free
expression of the will of the electors.” 71 This clause reflects the same sentiments
expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with only slightly different
terms. But the meanings are the same - the will of the people is to be expressed
through voting, and that right is guaranteed by universal and equal suffrage. In

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Dec. 19, 1966. 999 U.N.T.S. 171.

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addition, because of the racially disparate impact of disenfranchisement policies in
the United States, Article 26 of the ICCPR is also germane to this discussion. Article
26 declares that “[a]ll persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to the equal protection of the law.” 72
The ICCPR is enforced through the United Nations Human Rights Committee,
which requests periodic reports from state parties on their compliance with the
requirements of the treaty. Most recently, in July of 2006, the Committee
denounced the United States’ practice of felony disenfranchisement on the grounds
that it does not meet the requirements of Articles 25 and 26 of the Covenant. 73 The
Committee also took note of how the practice disproportionately affects the rights of
minority groups. 74 In the United States there are approximately 5.3 million
individuals who do not have the right to vote due to disenfranchisement laws. Two
million of these individuals are African-Americans, which constitute more than eight
percent of the African-American population in the United States. 75

Inter-American System
The Inter-American system is rooted in the principles of democracy. The preamble
to the OAS Charter states that “representative democracy is an indispensable
condition for the stability, peace and development of the region.” 76 The OAS
Charter holds democracy in such high regard that it is a purpose, 77 a principle, 78 and
a condition of membership. 79 The Inter-American Democratic Charter establishes

Id.
U.N. CCPR, 87 Sess., 2395 mtg., U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/SR.2395 (2006)
74
Id.
75
Manza and Uggen, supra note 3, at 253 (Table A3.4).
76
OAS Charter, Preamble
77
OAS Charter, Art. 2(b) (stating that the purpose of the charter is to "promote and consolidate representative
Democracy").
78
OAS Charter, Art. 3(d) (reaffirming "The solidarity of the American States and the high aims which are sought
through it require the political organization of those States on the basis of the effective exercise of representative
democracy").
79
OAS Charter, Art 9 (excluding any government from participation in the OAS if such government has
73

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that the people of the Americas have a right to democracy and obligates governments
to promote and defend that right. 80 It also establishes the right and responsibility of
all citizens to participate in decisions relating to their own development. 81
The Declaration on the Principles of Freedom and Expression holds that
development and consolidation of democracy depends on the inalienable right to
freedom of expression. 82 One of the basic foundations of democracy is the right of
the citizenry to exercise their right to free expression and choose their government via
the ballot box.
Both the American Convention on Human Rights and the American Declaration of
the Rights and Duties of Man establish a right to vote. Under the American
Declaration, Articles XX and XXXII both deal with voting. In Article XX, it is
viewed as a right, and in Article XXXII it is viewed as a duty. Article XX states:
“Every person having legal capacity is entitled to participate in the government of his
country, directly or through his representatives, and to take part in popular elections,
which shall be by secret ballot, and shall be honest, periodic, and free.” 83 This
general provision protects voting as an entitlement of every person “having legal
capacity.” The fact that participation in the government is limited only by legal
capacity reflects the importance of the right to vote in democracies. Other tenets
that correspond to the guarantee of the right to vote are contained in the preamble of
the American Declaration, which states that “[a]ll men are born free and equal, in
dignity and in rights…” 84 The dignity of all people is preserved through their ability

overthrown a democratically elected government).
80
Inter-American Democratic Charter, Art. 1
81
Id. at Art. 6
82
Decl. Of Principles on Freedom of Expression, Art. 1 (stating "freedom of expression in all its forms and
Manifestations is a fundamental and inalienable right of all individuals" and is "an indispensable requirement for
the very existence of democracy").
83
American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man. May 2, 1948.
84
Id.

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to have their voices heard through the ballot box and their consent and participation
in government, which they exercise through voting.
Article XXXII states that, “It is the duty of every person to vote in the popular
elections of the country of which he is a national, when he is legally capable of doing
so.” 85 In the cases where voting is not compulsory, it is clearly recognized as a duty
of citizens to exercise their right to vote. This emphasis on the duty, and not just the
entitlement, gives further credibility to the fundamental nature of the right to vote.
It is such an essential part of democratic rule that the nations that drafted and signed
the American Declaration created a duty surrounding an individual’s exercise of the
right.
Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights is titled Right to
Participate in Government and states, in full:
1) Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities:
a. to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely
chosen representatives;
b. to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be
by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees
the free expression of the will of the voters; and
c. to have access, under general conditions of equality, to the public
service of his country.
2) The law may regulate the exercise of the rights and opportunities referred
to in the preceding paragraph only on the basis of age, nationality, residence,
language, education, civil and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in
criminal proceedings.

Id.

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The American Convention thus explicitly confers upon citizens a right to participate
in their government through voting and elections. It further dictates that suffrage
should be universal and equal - that it should apply to all citizens on the basis of
citizenship. On the other hand, the Convention also allows for regulation of the
right on several different bases, including a criminal sentence. However, it remains
open for debate how the practical application of disenfranchisement policies in the
United States, particularly the number of individuals affected, the “blanket ban”
approach, and the racially disparate implementation, comport with the language of
the American Convention.
Despite the overwhelming support that the Inter-American system gives to
democracy, freedom of expression and the right to vote, the American Convention
and the American Declaration explicitly permit states to limit the right to vote in
narrow circumstances. Currently, there is no jurisprudence on the extent to which
Article 23(2) of the Convention permits states to disenfranchise its citizens. 86

European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights is the most developed of all regional
human rights bodies. Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention guarantees that
the state parties to the convention will hold elections. Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of
the conventions provides: “The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free
elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure
the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.” 87 In
Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v. Belgium, the European Court for Human Rights
interpreted Article 3 of Protocol no. 1 to include the right to vote. The Court
explained that the interpretation of the article evolved first from an institutional right
to hold free elections, then to the concept of universal suffrage, and then evolved into
86

Rottinghaus, Brandon, Incarceration and Enfranchisement: International Practices, Impact and Recommendations
for Reform 12 (July 1, 2003), at http://www.ifes.org/publication/4bbcc7feabf9b17
c41be87346f57c1c4/08_18_03_Manatt_Brandon_Rottinghaus.pdf (last visited April 12, 2007).
87
European Convention on Human Rights, Prot. 1, Art. 3

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a right to vote. 88 It was not until the Hirst case (discussed below), that the Court
reached a decision on the right to vote for persons in prison in the European system.

African Charter
The African charter also guarantees the people of Africa the right to participate in
government. Article 13 states: “Every citizen shall have the right to participate freely
in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen
representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law.” Article 2 of the charter
states: “Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms
recognized and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind
such as race, ethnic group, color, sex, language, religion, political or any other
opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status.” Considering that
the charter is a relatively new document, it is unclear as to whether the “other status”
mentioned in Article 2 also includes incarcerated or formerly incarcerated persons.
Cases
Recent trends in both national and international jurisprudence have made significant
strides toward granting voting rights to people in prison. These cases have not only
unanimously granted the right to vote to incarcerated persons, but have also
repudiated the idea of denying the right to vote for purposes of punishment or
rehabilitation. Some of the cases argue that racial discrimination in incarceration
practices is a contributing reason to the need to abolish the practice.

Canada
In Sauvé v. Canada 89 (1993) (Sauvé no.1), Rick Sauvé, an incarcerated person in
Canada, challenged the legality of the country’s blanket ban on voting by currently
incarcerated individuals. The basis of his challenge was Article 3 of the Canadian
88
89

Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v. Belgium, 9/1985/95/143, series A no.113 ¶ 51 (1987).
Sauvé v. Canada (Attorney General) (Sauvé No. 1), [1993] 2 S.C.R. 438

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Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states: “Every citizen of Canada has the right
to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative
assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.” 90 However, Canada’s
electoral law prohibited incarcerated persons from voting. The government of
Canada argued that the policy was a reasonable limit that the Charter allowed in
Section 1. 91 The Canadian Supreme Court disagreed with the government. It held
that the electoral law was drawn too broadly in barring all incarcerated persons from
voting. 92 The blanket ban failed to meet the proportionality test, as it did not
minimally impair the right to vote to individuals who were entitled to do so. 93
After the Supreme Court handed down the Sauvé No. 1 decision, the Canadian
Parliament amended the Canada Elections Act and replaced the offending section
with new language limiting the voting disqualification to “every prisoner who was in
a correctional institution serving a sentence of two years or more …” 94 Sauvé returned
to court and in Sauvé No. 2, he argued that the new electoral provisions still
infringed the guarantee of the right to vote as enshrined in Article 3 of the charter.
Once again, the Supreme Court sided with Sauvé.
Noting that the authors of the Charter placed the utmost importance in the right to
vote, the court stated that it would only consider justifications for limitations on the
right to vote under the “demonstrably justified” provision in Section 1, which applies
to all rights in the Canadian Charter. Therefore, the government would have to
prove that its aims warranted the voting restriction for persons in prison serving a
sentence greater than two years. The Court found that the government could not

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Art 3.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Sec. 1 “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees
the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be
demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” (ital. added)
92
Sauvé No. 1 at 913
93
Id.
94
Canada Elections Act, S.C., c.9, Part 1 § 4, (2000).
91

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provide any rational justification for denying the right to vote for incarcerated
persons serving sentences of two years or more. The court concluded that the policy
did not communicate a clear lesson to the nation’s citizens about respect for the rule
of law. 95 The court stated: “Denying a citizen the right to vote denies the basis of
democratic legitimacy. It says that delegates elected by the citizens can then bar those
very citizens, or a portion of them, from participating in future elections. But if we
accept that governmental power in a democracy flows from the citizens, it is difficult
to see how that power can legitimately be used to disenfranchise the very citizens
from whom the government’s power flows.” 96
The Court also held that the government could not impose the total loss of a
constitutional right on a particular class of people for a certain period of time. The
voting ban on incarcerated persons serving sentences of two years or more was
arbitrary and did not serve a valid criminal law purpose. 97 Further, the Court argued
that punishment must be constitutionally constrained and cannot be used to “write
entire rights out of the constitution.” 98
In finding that none of the government’s arguments proved that the law restricting
voting by currently incarcerated persons was demonstrably justified, the Court
concluded that the electoral law was also disproportionate to the harm the
government sought to prevent. The Court stated: “Denying prisoners the right to
vote imposes negative costs on prisoners and on the penal system. It removes a route
to social development and rehabilitation acknowledged since the time of Mill, and it
undermines correctional law and policy directed toward rehabilitation and
integration” 99

Sauvé No. 2 at ¶ 39
Id. at ¶ 32.
97
Id. at ¶ 48.
98
Id. at ¶ 52.
99
Id. at ¶ 59.
96

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South Africa
Two cases from South Africa in the last ten years are relevant to the discussion of
voting by persons in prison. The first is August v. Electoral Commission, heard before
the Constitutional Court on March 19, 1999. The issue in August was whether the
constitutional voting rights of the applicants were being denied because of their
criminal status. The Court, citing the United States case of O’Brien v. Skinner, 100
held that the Electoral Commission’s refusal to provide absentee ballots for persons
in prison who were registered to vote, and refusing to allow other individuals to
register to vote, was a failure to comply with obligations to enable eligible persons to
vote. 101 The Court found that because the 1996 Constitution guaranteed the right to
vote to “every adult citizen” and there was no statutory provision placing any
limitations on that guarantee, the act of prohibiting persons in prison from voting
was unconstitutional. 102 The Court held that the withholding of absentee ballots
would have resulted in the disenfranchisement of all currently incarcerated
individuals and would therefore be unconstitutional, 103 and mandated that provisions
be made for prison voting in the elections. 104 The Court stated, “Parliament cannot
by its silence deprive any prisoner of the right to vote.” 105
Five years later, another case concerning voting rights for those people in prison
appeared before the Constitutional Court. This was a case of first impression rather
than an appeal from a lower court. In Minister of Home Affairs v. NICRO,
challenged the Electoral Laws Amendment Act which would “deprive convicted
prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment without the option of a fine of the right
to participate in elections during the period of their imprisonment.” 106 In paragraph

100

414 U.S. 524, 532 (1973).
August at ¶ 22.
102
Sec. 19(3)(a) guarantees a right to vote in elections to “every adult citizen.” S. AFR. CONST. (1996) § 19(3)(a).
103
Id.
104
August at ¶ 23.
105
Id. at ¶ 33.
106
Minister of Home Affairs at ¶ 2.
101

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25 the court proclaimed, “the right to vote is vested in all citizens.” The Court
observed that voting is not an absolute right, but as held in August, “the universality
of the franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of
each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite literally, it says
that everybody counts.” 107
The Court adopted the reasoning of the Canadian Court in Sauvé No. 2 that the
government failed to provide demonstrable justification for the legislation, and
therefore it was deemed unconstitutional. 108 In addition, the court sought a remedy
that would allow persons in prison to be registered to vote even though deadline for
registration had passed. 109

Israel
In this case, the petitioner requested that the right to vote be denied to Yigal Amir,
who was imprisoned for assassinating Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The case
centered on a rule of the Knesset, which allowed for the right to vote to be denied by
the court according to the law. 110 The Israeli court refused to honor the petitioner’s
request, reasoning, “Without the right to vote, the infrastructure of all other
fundamental rights would be damaged. [citation omitted] Therefore, in a democratic
system, the right to vote will be restricted only in extreme circumstances enacted
clearly in law.” 111 The Israeli court refused to alter its practices, and affirmed that
limitation of the right to vote is based on only two criteria: citizenship and age of
18. 112

107

Id. at ¶ 28, quoting August at ¶ 17.
Id. at ¶ 65.
109
Id. at ¶ 73.
110
Hila Alrai v. Minister of the Interior and Yigal Amir, H.C. 2757/96 (1996).
111
Id. at 2.
112
Id.
108

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United Kingdom and the European Court of Human Rights
In February 1980, John Hirst, a British national, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on
the ground of diminished responsibility. 113 He was sentenced to a term of
discretionary life imprisonment. 114 Since he was currently serving a prison sentence,
Mr. Hirst was barred automatically by section 3 of the Representation of the People
Act of 1983 from voting in parliamentary or local elections. 115 Mr. Hirst filed
complaints in British domestic courts, under section 4 of the Human Rights Act of
1998, seeking a declaration that section 3 was incompatible with the European
Convention on Human Rights. 116 In 2001, his application was heard before the
Civil Divisional Court of England; his claim and subsequent appeal were both
rejected. 117
Hirst subsequently filed a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights
arguing that the Human Rights Act, which sought to implement the European
Convention on Human Rights domestically, prevented Britain from imposing a
blanket bar on voting in prison. 118 Noting that in the Mathieu-Mohin case, the
European Court interpreted Article 3 of Protocol 1 to include the fundamental right
to vote, Hirst argued that Britain illegally denied his right to vote.
In Hirst no. 1, a panel of the court examined the laws barring persons in prison from
voting, focusing on three questions. First, does the law curtail the right to vote to
such an extent as to impair its “very essence and effectiveness?” Second, is the
restriction on voting “imposed in pursuit of a legitimate aim?” Finally, are the means

113

Hirst v. United Kingdom (Hirst No. 1) 30.6.2004, Rep 2004
Id. at ¶ 11.
115
Representation of the People Act §3 (1983), at http://www.slough.info/slough/s29/s29s001.html#003, (last
visited April 12, 2007).
116
Hirst No. 1 at ¶ 11.
117
Id.
118
Id. at ¶ 15-16
114

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employed in implementing the ban on voting disproportionately applied? 119 The
panel had to consider these questions while still giving deference to the state by
granting latitude in implementing policies within its domestic sphere. 120
The state argued that such laws prevented crime and punished violations, and that it
enhanced civil responsibility and respect for the laws. 121 In ruling in this case, the
court was skeptical of the legislative aims of the law. Despite its doubts, the court
declined to decide on the legislative aims, citing varying political and penal
philosophies on the subject of punishment and rehabilitation. 122
The court, however, found that the blanket voting ban had been disproportionately
applied. It held that blanket application of a bar to the right to vote for persons in
prison was outside the margin of appreciation given to states in curbing the rights
stated in the European Convention. Furthermore, the court noted that the ban was
indiscriminate in its application. For example, an individual sentenced to one week
in prison would lose the right to vote if that sentence coincided with an election. 123
It noted that there was never an effort by the British Parliament to weigh the
competing interests of proportionality. As a result, along with the arbitrariness in
which an automatic bar is applied, the court found that the United Kingdom was in
violation of Protocol 1, Article 3 of the Convention.
On appeal by the United Kingdom, a Grand Chamber of the European Court
upheld the panel decision. In reviewing relevant treaty law and cases throughout the
world on disenfranchisement, the court held that voting is a right and not a privilege.

119

Id. at ¶ 36
Id.
121
Id. at ¶ 46
122
Id. at ¶ 47
123
Id. at ¶ 49
120

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In reviewing the ICCPR and the Sauvé and August cases, the court found that
universal suffrage has become a basic principle in international human rights law. 124
The Court examined the extent to which states may permit disenfranchisement of
persons in prison. It found that there may be some situations that warrant
disenfranchisement such as serious abuse of public position or crimes that
“undermine the rule of law or democratic foundations.” 125 In the case of the United
Kingdom, the court found that the blanket ban on voting in prison was outside of
the margin of appreciation given to states under the convention. 126 In particular, it
noted that 48,000 British citizens who were currently incarcerated were
disenfranchised by the Representation of the People Act. 127 Furthermore, because the
blanket ban was automatic, British courts did not inform individuals upon
conviction that disenfranchisement was a part of their sentence. 128 It found the
imposition of the blanket ban to be arbitrary and found that the law violated Article
3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention. In light of the Hirst decision, it is
unclear whether laws within other states of the Council of Europe that disenfranchise
all persons in prison will survive scrutiny under the Court’s analysis.
As a result of the decision, the Republic of Ireland immediately began implementing
measures to ensure that its voting laws complied with the decision. 129 Several other
nations that currently debating the issue within their legislature. Currently, the Hirst
case would affect the laws of ten countries that have a blanket ban on prison

124

Hirst No. 2 at ¶ 52.

125

Id. at ¶ 77
Id.
127
Id. at ¶ 71
128
Id.
129
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, Out of Step with the World: An Analysis of Felony
Disenfranchisement in the U.S. and Other Democracies 21 (May 2006), at
http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file825_25663.pdf (last visited April 12, 2007).
126

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voting. 130 These include mostly former Soviet bloc states as well as Spain and the
United Kingdom. 131

PROHIBITING PERSONS IN PRISON AND FORMERLY
INCARCERATED PERSONS FROM VOTING
CONTRADICTS THE PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSAL,
EQUAL AND NON-DISCRIMINATORY SUFFRAGE
The emerging customary international law norm of universal and equal suffrage
arises largely from state practice. This duty to protect the right of suffrage is
evidenced through state behavior: the constitutions they write, the treaties they sign,
and the cases they decide. As noted above, the clause “universal and equal suffrage”
is found in numerous OAS member-state constitutions. There are a total of five
global instruments that pertain to protecting the right of the people to exercise
universal and equal suffrage in elections. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the ICCPR are the two United Nations documents that explicitly protect
the right to universal and equal suffrage. The American Convention of Human
Rights for the OAS protects universal and equal suffrage, and the American
Declaration follows by establishing voting as both a right and a duty. The European
Convention on Human Rights pertains to member states of the European Union and
through case law has been interpreted to protect universal and equal suffrage,
including the right to vote for persons in prison. Through these instruments, a vast
number of countries across all parts of the world have acknowledged and declared
their support for universal and equal suffrage as a basic human right. This
widespread acknowledgement through state practice is clear evidence of an emerging
international law norm of universal and equal suffrage.
130

Id. at 6
Id. These nations include: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and
the United Kingdom.
131

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As cases and challenges emerge, international and domestic courts are enforcing this
international law norm by interpreting the words “universal and equal suffrage” to
include persons in prison and formerly incarcerated persons. The cases of Sauvé,
August, Alrai, and Hirst are representative of widespread agreement that people in
prison cannot be denied the right to vote, despite their confinement. While these
cases are recent, they are representative of an evolving trend to value political rights
such as voting as foundational for other human rights. 132 From this position it is no
great leap to say that if the right to vote is protected for those who are currently
incarcerated, it should also then be protected for those persons who are no longer
incarcerated. Because states are interpreting the duty to uphold universal and equal
suffrage to include persons in prison (and formerly incarcerated persons) in the
voting process, it follows that prohibiting prison voting violates the emerging
customary norm of universal and equal suffrage.

DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN LIGHT OF THE INTERAMERICAN COMMISSION’S INTERPRETATION OF THE
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
AND THE INTER-AMERICAN DECLARATION ON THE
RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MAN
The governing texts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights view
representative democracy as the glue that binds together all human rights. This
premise is evidenced through case law. In Andres Aylwin-Azocar v. Chile, the court
declared: “The concept of representative democracy and its protection is so
important and such an essential part of the hemispheric system that it not only sets it
132

See, e.g., POLITICAL RIGHTS, CHAPTER VII, PARAGUAY 1987, Country Report to the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, at http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/paraguay87eng/chap.7.htm (last visited
1/5/07) (“The Inter-American Commission has on many occasions cited the importance of respect for political
rights as a guarantee of the validity of the other human rights embodied in international instruments”).

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forth in texts, from the first documents, but an entire mechanism of hemispheric
protection has been put in place to address a breakdown of democracy in any of the
member states.” 133 Fundamental to the enforcement of human rights and the
creation of a representative democracy is the right to vote. This right to vote is
protected by the emerging norm of universal and equal suffrage, and there is an
infringement on this right when incarcerated persons and formerly incarcerated
persons are proscribed from voting.
The Proportionality Test
In Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States, the Commission in 2003 found
the United States in violation of Article II and Article XX of the American
Declaration for the denial of the right to vote of the citizens of the District of
Columbia. The Commission determined that although the residents of the District
of Columbia were permitted to elect a delegate to the House of Representatives,
D.C. residents were essentially prevented from participating in the legislature. 134 The
Commission held that the United States did not have objective, reasonable, and
proportionate justifications for denying District residents equal voting rights.
Furthermore, the Commission held that, based upon international human rights
standards, there was no justification for the disenfranchisement.
In Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States, the Commission set up a
framework of proportionality in its evaluation of a state’s compliance with Article 23,
holding that “states may draw distinctions among different situations and establish
categories for certain groups of individuals, so long as it pursues a legitimate end, and
so long as the classification is reasonably and fairly related to the end pursued by the
legal order.” 135

133

Azocar, supra note 11.
Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States, Case 11.204, Report No. 98/03 (2003) at ¶ 90, citing I/A
Court H.R., Advisory Opinion OC-4/84 of January 19, 1984, at ¶ 57.
135
Id. at ¶ 57.
134

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The Commission interprets Articles of the American Declaration in light of Articles
contained in the American Convention and previous interpretations of that article. 136
In this instance, “persons of legal capacity” in Article XX of the Declaration can be
interpreted to exclude those persons who fall under the barred categories in Article
23(2) the American Convention, namely on the basis of age, nationality, residence,
language, education, civil and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in
criminal proceedings. 137 Furthermore, the Commission has previously held that in
interpreting and applying the Declaration, it considers other prevailing international
and regional human rights instruments. 138
While states are given certain latitude in implementing laws circumscribing voting
rights, certain minimum standards exist that states cannot fall below in implementing
such laws. 139 The Commission's role in evaluating the right to participate in
government is to ensure that any differential treatment by a state has an objective and
reasonable justification. 140 States may establish categories for certain groups of
individuals, so long as it pursues a legitimate end, and so long as the classification is
reasonably and fairly related to the end result. 141 Restrictions upon the right to
participate in government must be justified by the need of these restrictions in the
framework of a democratic society based on means, motives, reasonability and
proportionality. 142 In making these determinations, the Commission takes account
of the State’s degree of autonomy and only interferes where the State has curtailed
the very essence and effectiveness of a petitioner’s right to participate in his or her
government. 143

136

Id. at ¶ 87.
Id. at ¶ 89.
138
See e.g. Juan Raul Garza v. United States, Case 12.243, Report No. 52/01, Annual Report of the IACHR
2000, ¶ 88, 89.
139
Id.
140
Azocar at ¶ 99, 100.
141
Statehood Solidarity Committee at ¶ 90.
142
Azocar at ¶ 102.
143
Statehood Solidarity Committee at ¶ 90.
137

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Given the precedent for the proportionality test as applied in cases of
disenfranchisement in the Americas, and the precedent set by other nations and
human rights bodies, the outcome of the application of the Commission’s own
proportionality test to the case of incarceration disenfranchisement should be similar.
In other cases, the Commission has looked to outside sources on difficult issues. For
example, in Azocar, the Commission examined the United Nations Declaration on
Human Rights, the ICCPR, as well as rulings from the European Commission on
Human Rights. The case of prison disenfranchisement is no different, and the
Commission may benefit from a close examination of the application of the
proportionality test in Hirst, Sauvé, and NICRO, in addition to the relevant
international instruments that make mention of the right to universal and equal
suffrage.
In the United States, courts have upheld the state’s right to disenfranchise
incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons on very dubious grounds. Early
United States court decisions relied on the argument that allowing incarcerated and
formerly incarcerated persons the right to vote would corrupt the democratic process
and denying them the right to vote was necessary to ensure the “purity of the ballot
box.” “The presumption is, that one rendered infamous by conviction of felony, or
other base offense indicative of great moral turpitude, is unfit to exercise the privilege
of suffrage…” 144 Other courts have stated that it is necessary to exclude incarcerated
and formerly incarcerated persons from voting because “a State has an interest in
preserving the integrity of her electoral process by removing from the process those
persons with proven anti-social behavior whose behavior can be said to be destructive
of society's aims.” 145 It is also argued by United States courts that incarcerated and
formerly incarcerated persons are more likely to commit election offenses and
therefore it is justifiable to disenfranchise large categories of individuals from the
144
145

Washington v. State, 75 Ala. 152, 585 (Dec. 1884)
Kronlund v. Honstein, 327 F. Supp. 71, 73 (D. Ga. 1971)

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franchise. 146 Many court decisions do not justify the policy, but rather uphold
disenfranchisement laws in the United States based on precedent and the United
States Supreme Court decision in Richardson v. Ramirez, 147 which interpreted Article
XIV of the United States Constitution to permit states to disenfranchise incarcerated
and formerly incarcerated persons. 148
None of the justifications are reasonable or justifiable under the Commission’s
proportionality test. First, the argument that, in order to preserve the “purity” of the
ballot box, an individual with a felony conviction should be excluded from the
franchise is unreasonable and unjustifiable. Such an argument is “no more than a
moral competency version of the idea that the franchise should be limited to people
who 'vote right'.” 149 The “purity” of the ballot box also runs afoul of the principle of
freedom of expression because it enforces the notion that there are limits to how one
may express his or her opinion in the form of a vote.
There is a fear among some courts that, if given the franchise, incarcerated or
formerly incarcerated persons would join together and vote as a bloc to change the
criminal laws in a “harmful” manner. Even if they did and a majority of citizens
agreed with them and the laws were changed, this would simply reflect the will of the
people as expressed through a voting majority. Conditioning the right to vote on the
possible adverse outcome of a free, open and universal election contradicts the very
principle of universal suffrage.
There is no rationale to deprive an individual of the right to vote to protect against
election offenses when the crimes alleged have nothing to do with elections. There is

146

Id.
418 U.S. 24 (1974)
148
See Perry v. Beamer, 933 F. Supp. 556 (E.D. Va 1996), Wilson v. Goodwyn, 522 F. Supp. 1214, 1216
147

(E.D.N.C.1981).
149

Fellner and Mauer, supra note 6, at 15-16.

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no evidence to suggest that currently or formerly incarcerated persons commit voter
fraud more frequently than other citizens. 150 The vast majority of individuals
disenfranchised under these policies were convicted of crimes that had nothing to do
with voter fraud or election offenses.
Not only are United States disenfranchisement policies unreasonable and
unjustifiable, but they are also disproportionate to the sentences served. In the U.S.,
states that deprive the right to vote to probationers, incarcerated persons, and
formerly incarcerated persons do so automatically. The punishment of
disenfranchisement is imposed legislatively to broad categories of individuals. Judges
are often not even aware that their sentences carry the automatic consequence of loss
of the vote. As a result, sentenced persons are seldom formally notified that they
have been permanently or otherwise deprived the right to vote and therefore were
never formally sentenced to such a punishment by a competent court.
Because of mandatory minimum and guideline sentencing, United States courts
frequently are constrained from adequately taking into account mitigating
circumstances for an individual case. Thus, individuals may be banned from voting
for decades after the crime was committed and the sentence served, regardless of how
exemplary an individual’s life may have been. For example, a woman in Virginia was
recently convicted of a felony when she threw a cup of ice into another car during a
traffic dispute. 151 Virginia makes it a felony to launch a projectile at a vehicle. She
was eligible to be sentenced up to two years in prison, but the judge sentenced her to
probation and time served. Because she is a convicted felon under the laws of
Virginia, she will be disenfranchised for life unless she is able to get a pardon from
the governor of Virginia. 152 This is the case despite the fact that she had no prior
convictions or any criminal record. Sentences such as this occur with disturbing
150

Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24, 79 (1974) (J. Marshall, Dissenting).
Vargas, Theresa, Judge Cuts Sentence in Flying Cup Case, WASH. POST, Feb. 22, 2007, at B01.
152
Id., section D1
151

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frequency in the United States. These disenfranchisement policies result in millions
of individuals being denied the ability to exercise the most basic constitutive act of
citizenship in a democracy: the right to vote.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Disenfranchisement remains a serious problem in the United States. The United
States imprisons and disenfranchises more people than all of the other countries in
the Americas combined through its incarceration, probation, and post-incarceration
and post-sentence disenfranchisement policies. These policies are contrary to the
emerging international law custom of universal and equal suffrage. Increasing
numbers of democratic states in the world are moving toward enfranchising persons
in prison as domestic and international courts find that prison disenfranchisement is
contrary to universal and equal suffrage. These courts have used a proportionality
test similar to that used by the Inter-American Commission in cases concerning the
right to vote. In light of the evidence presented in this report, we recommend that
the Inter-American Commission review the disenfranchisement language in article
23(2) of the Inter-American Convention and in Article XX of the Inter-American
declaration, with particular focus on the extreme policies of the United States.

157

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158

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