Different state, different law

It is the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution that is responsible for the large differences in the number of disenfranchised people in each state.

This amendment allows each state to make its own laws regarding the voting rights of convicted felons.

"I like to call myself a legal alien. I’m legally allowed to be here but I’m alienated because I’m set apart from everybody." Mantell Stevens, 36, Kentucky Convicted of drug possession in 2000. Spent 30 days in jail and three years on probation.

Only two states allow all convicted felons to vote, including those who are currently imprisoned: Maine and Vermont. Fourteen states allow those who are on probation and parole to vote, but not those who are in jail or prison. Most allow former felons to participate in the democratic process once they have served their sentence.

But there are 12 states that effectively ban convicted felons from voting for life – even once they have served their sentence and been released. Although there are ways for ex-felons to be pardoned and allowed back into the democratic process, in reality this hardly ever happens.

"Problems like this in 2016 are very difficult to address because the problems in each community and in each city are very different. Not only that, but the people who are targeted the most often don't have the platform to make the world know how they really feel." Shaun King, civil rights activist

In total, over half of all the disenfranchised are people who have completed their sentence. However, even after their time in prison and finishing their parole and probation they are still not allowed to vote.