September Pundit 2

Jamelle Bouie

Tell Me Again Why Prisoners Can’t Vote ( https://nyti.ms/2Z6z6du )

Maine and Vermont allow inmates to cast ballots. The 48 other states should too.

The New York Times

April 11, 2019

Pundit 2

Jamelle Bouie offers an impassioned, yet educative about a felon’s right to vote in the United States of America. The article begins by mentioning how Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts addressed the idea of felon disenfranchisement at a forum in Iowa. It appears that many Americans agree with the idea that felons should have the right to vote, as an online poll revealed to have ⅔ of the voters support. Bouie then mentions of 6.1 million people were kept from voting in the 2016 election due to the Sentencing Project. Although this amount of people not allowed to vote does seem alarming, fifteen states have restored voting rights to former felons. Bouie also offers the opinions of Bernie Sanders; Sanders believes that one does not break away from American society if they have committed a crime. Bouie also includes the fact that many other democracies still have the felon’s right to vote. The 14th Amendment does deem felon disenfranchisement constitutional, but Bouie argues that this idea interferes with our unalienable rights. A felon’s right to vote creates valuable links, potentially shedding light on the condition of institutions to politicians. Even though a felon does lose their liberty was a crime has been committed, their ability to reason has not been hindered.

The tone of this article appears to be impassioned and full-hearted, but Bouie still retains a tone of civility. Bouie presents his argument well, appealing to logos by including facts about voting policies and pathos by including the idea of the prisoner being shunned from societal duties. The exigence of this article is to argue for the right for felons to vote so that this disenfranchisement stop heavily affected the black community. Jamelle Bouie is an author who frequently writes about black issues in America and is apart of The 1619 Project. Bouie mentions how these voting restrictions will mostly affect the black community, so he wants to advocate for change to help his own community, leading to the purpose of this article. Bouie structures his article in a way that he puts his factual evidence first, then his moral evidence last. This entices the reader by making this article credible and believable, then slipping in some of Bouie’s own moral reasoning.