Michelle Skoranski

Michelle R. Skoranski is a family law attorney for Gonser and Gonser, P.A. She is also a member of Network Delaware and is a member of the team that created the Delaware Voters Guide.

Stripping felons of their fundamental right to vote is known as felony disenfranchisement.

While bail modification and police profiling are issues at the forefront of the upcoming elections due their disproportionate effect on minorities causing mass incarceration, another systemic consequence of these racially skewed practices is the under-representation of minorities at the polls due to felony disenfranchisement.

Although we are a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” we continue to suppress a significant group of people from voting through these ancient laws that stem from the Jim Crow era.

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According to a 2016 study by The Sentencing Project, over 6 million people in the United States are ineligible to vote due to a felony conviction, which includes 7.4 percent of African-Americans nationally — compared to only 1.8 percent of non-African-Americans. This means that 1 in every 13 African-Americans is unable to vote due to having a past felony conviction.

This makes one question the inherent purpose of these laws.

Some argue that taking away the right to vote serves as an additional sanction to breaking the law. Although the criminal justice system was structured to achieve punishment, it was also designed to rehabilitate and reintegrate these individuals back into society. Taking away the fundamental right to vote serves no purposes other than to cause further alienation and shame to these individuals who are expected to rejoin their communities, obtain employment, pay taxes and do everything else that other citizens enjoy.

These disenfranchisement laws vary across the country, differing in each state. Only two states do not have these laws on the books. Three states have permanent disenfranchisement for all felons, and the remaining states have something in between, whether it’s permanent disenfranchisement for only specific felonies, automatic restoration after being released from prison, or restoration after the completion of sentencing, parole, or probation.

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The state of Delaware has a combination of both permanent disenfranchisement for certain felonies and restorative suffrage for all other felonies. The Delaware constitution prohibits anyone convicted of a felony crime from voting during incarceration, parole, and probation. This right to vote is restored once the felon fully completes their sentence.

However, voting rights are terminated indefinitely with convictions of felony murder, manslaughter, a sexual offense, or an offense against public administration involving bribery, improper influence or abuse of office.

Voting rights are also restored after the felony conviction is pardoned by the governor. The Delaware code further clarifies that the discharging of a sentence includes imprisonment, parole, work release, early release, supervised custody and probation and community service.

Delaware originally implemented lifelong disenfranchisement for all felons until its constitution was amended in 2000, enabling most felons to vote five years after completing their sentence. This 2000 legislation restored voting rights to approximately 6,400 citizens.

In 2013, through the Hazel D. Plant Voter Restoration Act, the five-year waiting period was removed and most felons were able to vote after completing their sentence. However, the Delaware code continued to require all financial obligations be fulfilled in order for a felon’s sentence to be complete, which continued to disenfranchise those felons who were not economically able to pay off their fines, fees and restitution.

Then, in 2016, Delaware removed this financial requirement.

Delaware has made significant changes in felony disenfranchisement laws, but we continue to prohibit a large number of Delawareans from voting. A report by the Center for American Progress found that restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals would lead to more than 2,300 additional voters in Delaware.

In a state as small as Delaware, 2,300 minority votes would make a significant impact on any election, and suppressing those votes is only holding back the true nature of democracy.

Although changing law takes time, just reaching out to someone in your community who has encountered the criminal justice system and making them aware of their reinstatement rights can make a difference. I have encountered countless individuals through my practice of law who have been convicted of a crime and have no idea that they are able to vote.

Take the time to have this conversation with members of your community and with your appointed officials, not just to make a difference in this upcoming election, but for years to come.



