Washington (CNN) Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke joined some of his fellow Democratic presidential candidates on Wednesday by signaling a willingness to "rethink" voting rights for prisoners.

O'Rourke, taking questions from the press while at the She the People forum in Texas, began his response on the issue by pointing to low voter participation rates in his state and broader rollbacks of voting rights Democrats have railed against around the country.

He noted that the prison population was "disproportionately comprised of people of color" and said while he was willing to consider expanding voting rights to non-violent offenders behind bars, he was opposed to extending the right to violent offenders in prison.

"I would think especially for non-violent offenders that we rethink removing the right to vote and allow everyone, or as many as possible, to participate in our democracy," O'Rourke said. "For violent criminals, it's much harder for me to reach that conclusion."

Elaborating on his point, O'Rourke said violent offenders deserved to feel a consequence in "civic life," in contrast to people behind bars for marijuana, which he has said he wants to legalize

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