thesis statement on voting rights

Voting Rights Act of 1965

August 6, 1965

Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries

On 6 August 1965 President Lyndon B.  Johnson  signed the Voting Rights Act into law, calling the day “a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield” (Johnson, “Remarks in the Capitol Rotunda”). The law came seven months after Martin Luther King launched a  Southern Christian Leadership Conference  (SCLC) campaign based in Selma, Alabama, with the aim of pressuring Congress to pass such legislation.

“In Selma,” King wrote, “we see a classic pattern of disenfranchisement typical of the Southern Black Belt areas where Negroes are in the majority” (King, “Selma—The Shame and the Promise”). In addition to facing arbitrary literacy tests and poll taxes, African Americans in Selma and other southern towns were intimidated, harassed, and assaulted when they sought to register to vote. Civil rights activists met with fierce resistance to their campaign, which attracted national attention on 7 March 1965, when civil rights workers were brutally attacked by white law enforcement officers on a march from  Selma to Montgomery .

Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act that same month, “with the outrage of Selma still fresh” (Johnson, “Remarks in the Capitol Rotunda”). In just over four months, Congress passed the bill. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 abolished literacy tests and poll taxes designed to disenfranchise African American voters and gave the federal government the authority to take over voter registration in counties with a pattern of persistent discrimination. “This law covers many pages,” Johnson said before signing the bill, “but the heart of the act is plain. Wherever, by clear and objective standards, States and counties are using regulations, or laws, or tests to deny the right to vote, then they will be struck down” (Johnson, “Remarks in the Capitol Rotunda”).

On the same day Johnson signed the bill, he announced that his attorney general, Nicholas  Katzenbach , would initiate lawsuits against four states that still required a poll tax to register. Although King called the law “a great step forward in removing all of the remaining obstacles to the right to vote,” he knew that the ballot would only be an effective tool for social change if potential voters rid themselves of the fear associated with voting (King, 5 August 1965). To meet this goal and “rid the American body politic of racism,” SCLC developed its Political Education and Voter Registration Department (King, “Annual Report”). 

Carson,  In Struggle , 1981.

John Herbers, “Alabama Vote Drive Opened by Dr. King,”  New York Times , 3 January 1965.

Johnson, “Remarks in the Capitol Rotunda at the Signing of the Voting Rights Act,” 6 August 1965, in  Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965,  bk. 2, 1966.

E. W. Kenworthy, “Johnson Signs Voting Rights Bill, Orders Immediate Enforcement; 4 Suits Will Challenge Poll Tax,”  New York Times , 7 August 1965.

King, Annual Report, Address at SCLC’s Ninth Annual National Convention, 11 August 1965,  KLMDA-NNCorl .

King, Press conference after meeting with Lyndon B. Johnson, 5 August 1965,  MLKJP-GAMK .

King, “Selma—The Shame and the Promise,”  IUD Agenda  1 (March 1965): 18–21.

“Provisions of Voting Bill,”  New York Times , 7 August 1965.

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August 26, 2021 5:00 AM

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Primary content.

The Justice Department calls the Voting Rights Act of 1965 "the most successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted by the United States Congress."

The law put an end to literacy tests, which prevented many people from registering to vote, in a half-dozen states, granted the attorney general the power to send observers to witness elections and gave the federal government the authority to preapprove voting and election changes in places with a history of discrimination.

Within a few years of its passage, the Voting Rights Act had paved the way for thousands of Black and brown voters to go to the ballot box. Bipartisan majorities in Congress reauthorized the act five times, most recently in 2006, when then-President George W. Bush lauded the law and pledged to defend it in court.

The landmark law has gotten a different reception at the highest court in the land in the last few years. In two decisions, spanning eight years, a conservative majority of Supreme Court justices upended the law's core enforcement powers.

The most recent decision, in July, has prompted national marches, including one set to culminate in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 March on Washington.

The rally comes on the heels of House passage of legislation to override the Supreme Court and update the Voting Rights Act. But prospects for the bill are dim in a closely divided Congress.

How the law came to be

In the years after the Civil War, the United States adopted three constitutional amendments. The 13th Amendment ended slavery and involuntary servitude "except as punishment for crime." The 14th Amendment codified birthright citizenship and promised "due process of law," among other steps. And the 15th Amendment gave Black men the right to vote.

For a brief period, Black voters raced to the ballot box, electing officials of their choice to high office. But all too soon, Southern states passed their own laws making it more difficult for people of color to vote, including literacy tests, poll taxes and a horrible campaign of violence. By the 1960s, white voter registration in some states was 50 percentage points greater than Black voter registration.

"Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a 'Southern manifesto' because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice," King said in a major address in Washington in 1957 .

Then, in early 1965, armed state troopers viciously beat a group of nonviolent marchers in Selma, Ala. Footage of those protesters being sprayed with chemicals and clubbed by police batons shocked the conscience of the country and helped then-President Lyndon B. Johnson make the case for the Voting Rights Act.

Months later, Johnson signed the act into law.

"What history shows is that sort of federal intervention was the main thing that could affect systemic change to the problem of racial discrimination in voting," professor Atiba Ellis of Marquette University told The NPR Politics Podcast for its legal series, "The Docket."

What's changed

In 2013, in a case called Shelby County v. Holder , Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that a lot of things had changed, that the world had changed since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The 5-4 decision effectively derailed the Justice Department's system for preapproving election changes in jurisdictions with a history of discrimination, putting a heavy burden on the federal government to identify any such changes and sue to prevent them from taking effect. The high court ruling prompted states to pass new restrictions on voting.

Then, in July, another conservative court majority severely weakened the remaining enforcement tool for the Department of Justice : a provision that gave the federal government the legal authority to challenge voting laws that discriminate on the basis of race, color and language minority status.

In Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee , Justice Samuel Alito concluded that some inconvenience to voters would not run afoul of the Constitution. His majority opinion also gave states a powerful defense: They could raise concerns about voter fraud to justify their election changes without having to prove any such fraud existed.

Lawsuits by the Justice Department and civil rights groups over voting changes in Georgia are continuing in the courts. But it's not yet clear what fate they will meet.

The current fight

Democrats in Congress have been pressing for at least two different voting rights measures that would restore the federal government's enforcement powers at the ballot box. One is named after the late Rep. John Lewis , a Georgia Democrat whose beating on "Bloody Sunday" in 1965 horrified a national audience and helped push the Voting Rights Act over the finish line on Capitol Hill later that year.

But Democrats are facing mathematical challenges. Based on current Senate rules, they need 60 votes, including 10 Republicans, to advance any voting measures. So far, they've been unable to muster them .

"It's a critical moment in the fight for voting rights," Mahogane Reed of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund told The NPR Politics Podcast . "The onslaught of new voting laws is so heavy. Intervention from Congress is absolutely critical."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org .

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William J. Clinton

Statement on the voting rights act of 1965.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been a topic of substantial discussion in recent days. I want to make absolutely clear my full support for the act.

The Voting Rights Act is central to our Nation's efforts to eradicate racial discrimination and secure equal opportunity for all Americans. As I said last month upon signing the motor voter bill, the Voting Rights Act is part of a great tradition of laws that have widened the circle of liberty to encompass more and more of our citizens. This administration remains unwavering in its commitment to effective enforcement of the act and the Nation's other civil rights laws.

The Voting Rights Act was adopted to give reality to the 15th amendment's guarantee of the right to vote, the most basic right of a democracy. When first adopted in 1965, the act responded to long-entrenched barriers that systematically denied voting rights to African-Americans. As more subtle forms of disenfranchisement came to be employed, the Congress, with bipartisan agreement, strengthened and extended the Voting Rights Act in 1982. The Voting Rights Act offers two major protections: It imposes a nationwide prohibition of any electoral process that results in discrimination, and requires that certain specially covered jurisdictions obtain administrative or judicial preclearance before implementing voting changes.

I fully and enthusiastically support Attorney General Janet Reno, and the attorneys of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, in their efforts to enforce vigorously the Voting Rights Act. Where the Voting Rights Act is violated, this administration will continue, as it has in pending Supreme Court litigation in which the Department of Justice has filed briefs, to seek effective relief by applying the full range of remedies available under law, including remedies that have previously been employed by the Department of Justice or approved by the courts. I also look forward to working with Attorney General Reno and Members of Congress to enact legislation, as needed, to clarify and reinforce the protections of the Voting Rights Act.

In 1965, President Johnson hailed the Voting Rights Act as "a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield." Effective enforcement of the Voting Rights Act will allow us to continue that triumph. Inclusion of all Americans in the political process is necessary if we are to work together as communities, States, and a nation to address the difficult challenges that confront us all.

William J. Clinton, Statement on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/220492

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Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote? Proposal

Introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis plan, reference list.

Felon disenfranchisement cases have characterized the history of the United States since 1965. By noting that America advocates for universal human rights including voting rights, several states have been concerned about the continued growth of the number of felon convicts and ex-convicts.

According to the US Department of Justice, by 2003, there were about 4.7 million felon ex-convicts in the United States who had been disenfranchised (2003, p.10). In the societies whose democracies are rights-based, punishment for crimes committed by convicts is enhanced through curtailing some fundamental rights of people including rights of association and travelling.

When felony convicts’ rights including voting rights are eroded, their rehabilitation process is impaired since they may perceive themselves as having lesser equal rights in comparison with other people who have not committed felony crimes. This position is held by Siegel (2011) who argues that, after the passing of 1965(PL.89-110) voting rights act, the denial of voting rights “undermines the democratic process and impedes rehabilitation thus debilitating both communities and individuals” (p.89).

In this context, felony convicts may develop psychological challenges that may impede their capacity to fit well in the society by the mere perception of denial of voting rights. It is hypothesized in the proposal that guaranteeing suffrage rights to felon convicts may help in improving their psychological health. The research focuses on evaluation of this hypothesis to establish the link between the perceptions of felony on their human rights and their rehabilitation process.

Through the provisions of 14 th amendment of the US constitution, states are mandated to make laws that deny both inmates and felons their voting rights. In California, disenfranchisement laws stipulate that all adults who are convicted for felony crimes and or held in both paroles and prisons lose suffrage rights until their jail terms lapses (Siegel, 2011). Such persons consist of more than 4.7 million people who do not enjoy their voting rights in the US (U.S Department of Justice, 2003).

This case is not simplistic since it does not just amount to saying that robbers, murderers, and rapists do not have suffrage rights. Acts of felony extend beyond these crimes to include other crimes whose penalties are serving a jail term of more than one year (US Department of Justice, 2003). This issue raises the question of the impacts of felony convictions on people and or how the convictions make people alter the manner they perceive their citizenship rights.

When America was founded, legal frameworks only gave people who owned land a privilege of participating in political processes through voting (Siegel, 2011). Since then, the electorate has been expanded to encompass people who do not own property, women, blacks, and even Hispanics among other people who constitute the American diversity. Only felons and persons under the age of 18 years are not permitted to vote (Grady, 2012, p. 445).

Does it then imply that voting is a privilege as opposed to being a right? Are felons lesser human beings not worth the citizenship fundamental privileges? Gabbling with these questions has resorted to several scholarly studies being completed on the impacts of denial of fundamental citizenship rights once people are convicted for felony. Some states have been altering their law to allow ex-felons to be permitted to vote. McMiller (2008) argues that, in Connecticut, this alteration was led by several campaigns, which lasted for 7 years.

The campaigns sort to alter voting right laws. In fact, “the measure, signed into law by then governor John G. Rowland, a Republican, made Connecticut one of the first states to successfully and significantly alter its voter eligibility law in the aftermath of the controversial 2000 presidential election” (McMiller , 2008, p.645). Since 2001, several states have also been restoring voting rights to felony convicts.

By noting that some states have been reviewing their laws to permit ex-felons to vote subject to no subsequent charge with felony crimes, Haselswerd (2009) sought to empirically study the differences in turnout of ex-felons who had their suffrage rights restored.

The research formed an attempt to make approximations of turnout of ex-felons to participate in voting using statistical models as opposed to through deployment of government records. Statistically, Haselswerdt (2009) approximated that about 25 to 35 percent of ex-felons would participate in voting during federal elections.

In the study, “Six-hundred-sixty recently released ex-felons in Erie County in New York who would have been legally eligible to register and vote in 2004 or 2005 were compared with data from the Erie County Board of Elections to determine whether they registered and voted in either 2004 or 2005” (p.262).

The results of the study indicated that about 5 percent of ex-felons participated in either 2005 or 2004 elections. This result raises queries on the impacts of conviction with felony on perception of people’s fundamental rights including voting rights.

Do felons perceive themselves as not appropriate to participate in political process by the mere fact that they committed crimes? Do felony charges mean that people end up making people perceiving themselves as being in appropriate in the society? Inspired by Haselswerd’s (2009) findings, it sounds imperative to study how felons think the society looks at them and or how this perception helps to construct their decisions to engage in social and political affairs of the societies in which they live in including engaging in voting processes.

In a different empirical research on ex-felon turnout to participate in voting, Burch (2011) estimated party registration and turnout rates of 2008 general election in Michigan, Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia.

The findings of the study indicated much low turnout rates of ex-felons in comparison to approximations made by government records. In particular, Burch (2011) found out that, although the variation of turn out rates varied with respect to states, it averaged at about 22.2 percent in 2008 across all the states studied. The author recorded low turnout rates for first time convicts.

Randle (2007) may provide possible explanations of the low voting turnout among ex-felons empirically found by Haselswerd (2009) and Burch (2011). She argues that felon disenfranchisement (FD) policies makes ex-felons to perceive themselves as having the inability to make sound political decisions through over emphasis on the incapacity of felons to make sound decision that are good for the general society in the fear that felons may vote for policies advocating for excessive lenient penal.

However, Randle (2007) maintains that this fear is inappropriate since high probabilities exist that ex-felons are drawn from societies, which have low voting turnout. The author further argues that criminals are not interested in participating in political processes since they have low interests in politics (Randle, 2007, p.501).

This position is significant in the context of the current research since it is crucial to establish how conviction with felony crimes influences people’s views about the roles of politics in the society. Although the impact of denial of voting rights is purposely meant to affect the felons by blocking them from participating in the political process, with regard to Bowers and Preuhs (2009), the impacts of denial of suffrage rights extend further to include other people who are not targeted by felon disfranchisement policies (p.722).

Due to disproportionate number of groups of people who are impacted by the FD laws, as may be evidenced by more people of a particular ethnic or racial community being held behind bars in the United States than others, engagement of such communities in the political process is impaired negatively.

Bowers and Preuhs (2009) conducted a research to verify the above claim. The researchers sought to make verification for various hypotheses related to the roles that are played by socialization process in influencing people at individual level in engagement in politics.

Unlike the approach deployed by Haselswerdt (2009), Bowers and Preuhs (2009) used “multilevel modeling and two separate individual-level data sets of those registered to vote to examine the effect of FD laws on the probability of voting” (p.722). Their results indicated that FD laws had negative impacts on participation in voting exercise among blacks in comparison to whites.

Burch (2011) reports a similar finding by indicating, “In North Carolina and Florida, two states for which the data are available, party registration varies by race” (p.699). Consequently, it is arguable that people register in political parties based on the extents to which they think the issues that affect them more will be addressed. One of such intriguing issues is the denial of suffrage rights on accounts of having being convicted for felony.

Siegel (2011) informs that, by the size of population of the races in the US, the percentage population of blacks in prison is more than the percentage of whites. Hence, black non-felons seem likely more impacted by FD laws by virtue of the fact that more of their people are facing the consequences of FD laws.

In this extent, the results of Burch (2011) are significant in the current research since they indicated that, in case ex-felons and felons are eliminated from the voting populations, it is likely that political socialization process will be impacted.

Participants

This study targets the population of people implicated with felony crimes and people in the society considered as being offended in California. A part from helping to form the study control group, the public (the offended), is the one whom their perception about convicts results in making convicts develop psychological problems due to the manner in which they embrace both convicts and ex-convicts in the society.

The justification of denial of voting rights is considered in the research as being based on these perceptions. Thus, the public through their opinions is an essential participant of the research. The sample of the study will comprise 120 convicts of felony crimes and 300 people derived from the society within where the convicts live. Convenience sampling technique will be deployed to arrive at the sample of the study.

To make sure that the sample will be balanced, the felony convicts recruited for the study will be drawn from across the gender divide and social economic status. In the establishment of the sample size, it is critical to minimize the individual differences effects. In this extent, individual participants of the study will have a random assignment of an equally sized treatment group arrived at by deployment of a random sample assignment table.

In the collection of the data on the perceptions of people on the impacts of denial of voting rights on how convicts of felony crimes perceive themselves as different from the rest of the people in the community they live in, and to ease the analysis of the data, two options for data collection will be used.

For this purpose, questionnaires are provided for No or Yes responses. Consequently, a questionnaire is provided asking the participants to provide response on whether denial of voting rights influences the way they perceive themselves in the society.

To ensure that the participants do not have prior information on the questionnaires, the questionnaires are not meant for take home. However, they are based on the facts and statistics reflecting the magnitude of the problems of denial of suffrage rights for felony convicts across the United States. This strategy allows the participants to give responses not only based on the perceptions but also on behalf of the other people who have their voting rights eroded upon finding themselves engaged in felony acts.

The dependent variable is the perceptions of people on how their roles on the society are impacted by erosion of their suffrage rights once they are charged with felony crimes. The independent variable is the felony crimes. The questionnaire is designed to be objective.

The participants are required to provide information on how they consider denial of voting rights to have influenced their fits with the society in which they belong. Pilot study will also be conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the experimental study conducted. For pilot testing, Cranach’s alpha, coefficients of test-retest reliability would have to be calculated once pilot testing is conducted.

Participants are drawn from the areas where felony convicts are serving their sentences across the state of California. Since the aim of the research is to determine the psychological impacts of denial of voting rights amongst the participants in an attempt to how they affect their rehabilitations process, no information is provided about the purpose of the study to the participants.

Since the convicts are not expected to have writing materials, the researcher starts by handing over the material including questionnaires. The questionnaires are meant to provide response to whether the participants feel that they will be the same people they were before once they complete their sentences. If the answer is yes, they will be required to provide information on whether erosion of their voting rights would influence the way they value themselves in the societies where they live.

Additional space is provided for the participants to provide more information on how denial of some of their rights including voting rights impacts the way they relate with the people they have been very close to in the society. During the pilot test, the following questions are administered

• To the convicts: Which of the following do you consider as the main purpose of prison? 1= rehabilitation to avoid future related crimes; 0= provide the rest of the community with learning examples of the impacts of committing felony.
• To the public: When do you think felony convicts should have their rights including voting rights taken away? 1=after and before rehabilitations; 0= before rehabilitations.

On Sex crimes

• To the convict: Do you feel that people in the society will trust you when you are around people who made you convicted to having violated their sexual rights? Yes= 1; No=0.
• To the public: Do you think that people implicated with sex crimes should be allowed to vote or not. Yes=1; No=0.

On the Impacts of engagement in the felony crime

• To the convicts: Do you consider yourself equal to other people in the society who have never been convicted of felony crime? 1=yes; No=0
• To the public: Do you think that taking away voting rights from felony convicts amounts to discrimination? 1=Yes; No=0.

Since the data collected is essentially qualitative, the researchers plan to classify data in terms of the percentages. For instance, the percentages of those who believe that the denial of suffrage rights is discriminating the felony convicts and hence amounting to perceptions of necessity to maintain low social profiles in the society after completion of one’s sentence is calculated.

Depending on the percentages, discrimination will be analyzed based on the results of how convicts perceive themselves as being equal or not with the rest of the members of the society. The size of the effect of denial of voting rights among felony convicts is calculated based on percentages of variance, standard deviations, and mean of the data collected.

If the results of the study depict significant psychological effects of denial of human rights including participation in political processes such as voting rights, the results show the necessity for changing laws to accord the felons voting rights in the effort to ensure they rehabilitate fast and fit well within the society once they have finished their sentences. In the interpretation of results, the limitations of the study will be put into perspective. The study will be conducted within California. Therefore, the results are valid for only this state.

Consequently, extending the result to other states involves generalization hence introducing generalization errors. The results will further be interpreted in the context of the existing research on the topic especially on how people perceive felony ex-convicts in the society. This research will help to reduce incidences of prejudice and discrimination of the felony convicts-something that may influence the convicts psychologically.

Bowers, M., & Preuhs, R. (2009). Collateral consequences of a collateral penalty: The negative effect of felon disenfranchisement laws on the political participation of non-felons. Social Sciences Quarterly, 90 (3), 722-743.

Burch, T. (2011). Turnout and party registration among criminal offenders in the 2008 general election. Law and Society Review, 45 (3), 699-730.

Grady, S. (2012). Civil Death is Different: An Examination of A post-Graham Challenge to Felon Disenfranchisement under the Eighth Amendment. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 102 (2), 441-470.

Haselswerdt, M. (2009). Con job: An estimate of ex-felon voter turnout using document-based data. Social sciences quarterly, 90 (2), 262-273.

McMiller, D. (2008). The campaign to restore the voting rights of people convicted of a felony and sentenced to probation in Connecticut. American Behavioral Scientist, 51 (5), 645-658.

Randle, J. (2007). Review of Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. Law and Society, 41 (2), 500-503.

Siegel, J. (2011). Felon disenfranchisement and the right for universal suffrage. Social Work, 56 (1), 89-91.

U.S Department of Justice. (2003). Press release: one in every 32 adults now on probation, Parole, or incarcerated . Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 26). Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote? https://ivypanda.com/essays/felons-and-voting-should-convicted-felons-have-the-right-to-vote/

"Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote?" IvyPanda , 26 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/felons-and-voting-should-convicted-felons-have-the-right-to-vote/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote'. 26 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote?" November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/felons-and-voting-should-convicted-felons-have-the-right-to-vote/.

1. IvyPanda . "Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote?" November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/felons-and-voting-should-convicted-felons-have-the-right-to-vote/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Felons and Voting: Should Convicted Felons have the Right to Vote?" November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/felons-and-voting-should-convicted-felons-have-the-right-to-vote/.

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• Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons Correcting
• Ex-Felon Disenfranchisement Voting Problem
• The Problem of the Disenfranchisement of Ex-felons
• Ex-Felons' Voting and Transformational Leadership
• Ex-Felon Disenfranchisement Ethics
• Social Change Application to Ex-Felon Disenfranchisement
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Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Florida

A summary of current felony disenfranchisement policies and legislative advocacy in Florida.

• Download Resource For Lawyers and Advocacy Groups Helping Floridians with Past Convictions Determine Their Eligibility to Register and to Vote
• Voting Rights Restoration

Disenfranchisement in Florida

In November 2018, nearly 65 percent of Flor­ida voters approved  Amend­ment 4 , a constitutional amendment that auto­mat­ic­ally restored voting rights to most Floridians with past convictions who had completed the terms of their sentence. Shortly thereafter, in June 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed  Senate Bill 7066  into law, prohib­it­ing return­ing citizens from voting unless they pay off certain legal finan­cial oblig­a­tions (LFOs) imposed by a court pursu­ant to a felony convic­tion.

In June 2019, the Bren­nan Center and other civil and voting rights groups filed a lawsuit chal­len­ging the law. The trial court found Florida’s “pay-to-vote system” unconstitutional, in part because it is often not possible to determine whether a returning citizen is eligible to vote because the State does not reliably or consistently track data on LFOs. However, the en banc Elev­enth reversed and vacated the lower court’s ruling.  More inform­a­tion about this lawsuit, Gruver v. Barton (consolidated with Jones v. DeSantis), can be found  here .

On August 8, 2022, follow­ing  reports  of a state attor­ney in Alachua County prosec­ut­ing 10 return­ing citizens for allegedly regis­ter­ing and voting in 2020 while ineligible because of outstand­ing LFOs, the Bren­nan Center, ACLU of Flor­ida, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and ACLU created a  resource  for lawyers and advocacy groups to help return­ing citizens determ­ine if they are eligible to vote.  Please note this resource is not intended for the general public and should not be relied upon as legal advice. It should be used in consultation with a lawyer or another expert who is able to interpret Florida’s voting rules, and it is intended to serve as a starting point for assisting a returning citizen with determining whether they are eligible to register and vote.

On January 13, following the  arrests of dozens of returning citizens  for what appear to be honest mistakes about their eligibility to vote, the Brennan Center, ACLU of Florida, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU, Florida NAACP, and League of Women Voters of Florida sent a  letter  to Secretary of State Cord Byrd putting him on notice that Florida’s voter registration form violates the National Voter Registration Act because it fails to adequately inform applicants with felony convictions of the eligibility requirements.

On February 3, Florida lawmakers introduced  H.B. 3-B / S.B. 4-B , a bill to expand the jurisdiction of the office of statewide prosecution (“OSP”) to investigate and prosecute certain crimes related to voting, petition activities, and voter registration. The bill was introduced after several Florida courts dismissed the OSP’s charges against three of the 20 returning citizens arrested by DeSantis’s election police force last August. The courts concluded that the OSP does not have authority to prosecute alleged voting misconduct that occurred in only one judicial circuit. The Brennan Center, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU of Florida, ACLU, Florida NAACP, League of Women Voters of Florida, LatinoJustice, All Voting is Local Florida, and Common Cause Florida submitted  written testimony in opposition  to the bill. Gov. DeSantis signed S.B. 4-B into law on February 15.

On April 26, the Brennan Center and co-counsel filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Florida and Florida NAACP, challenging Florida’s uniform statewide voter registration application under the National Voter Registration Act.   On July 10, the district court granted Secretary Byrd’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit and dismissed plaintiffs’ claim.   More information about this lawsuit, League of Women Voters of Florida v. Byrd, can be found  here .

The History of Amendment 4

Prior to Amendment 4, Florida’s constitution permanently disenfranchised all citizens who had been convicted of any felony offense unless the Clemency Board restored their voting rights – a process that will now apply to those who have not had their rights restored by Amendment 4, including anyone convicted of murder or felony sexual offenses. Between  2010  and  2016 , the number of disenfranchised Floridians grew by nearly 150,000 to an estimated total of 1,686,000. In 2016,  more than one in five  of Florida’s Black voting-age population was disenfranchised.

After years of advocating for change with the courts and governors’ offices, the Brennan Center joined with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and others to draft Amendment 4 and push for its inclusion on the 2018 ballot. (FRRC has since been nominated  for a Nobel Peace Prize.)

On January 23, 2018,  Floridians for a Fair Democracy  announced that their campaign, Florida Second Chances, had surpassed the 766,200 signature threshold to get  Amendment 4  on the 2018 ballot. For the next 10 months, the campaign worked to build a massive groundswell of bipartisan support that culminated in the Amendment’s passage on November 6, 2018. Amendment 4 went into effect on January 8, 2019.

For more information about applying for clemency, the Clemency Board’s website can be accessed  here .

Rights Restoration Developments Before Amendment 4

In  2000 , the Brennan Center and co-counsel, representing more than 600,000 citizens, filed a lawsuit –  Johnson v. Bush  –  challenging Florida’s permanent disenfranchisement constitutional provision under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In  2005 , despite evidence that Florida’s constitutional provision was rooted in 19 th -century efforts to evade the mandate of the Fifteenth Amendment and deny Black men the right to vote, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to stand.

Executive Actions

In  April 2007 , then-Gov. Charlie Crist took an incremental step towards reform when he issued  revised rules of executive clemency . Notably, this change created automatic rights restoration for people completing sentences for certain felony convictions. A year later, in  2008 , Gov. Crist’s office  announced  that over 115,000 Floridians had regained voting rights since the new rules were implemented.

In  March 2011 , then-Gov. Rick Scott  eliminated Gov. Crist’s reforms  and created additional barriers for people seeking to have their voting rights restored. The Brennan Center and other national civil rights organizations strongly opposed the plan in a  joint letter  to the Clemency Board. The American Probation and Parole Association also submitted  its own letter  encouraging the Board to maintain Gov. Crist’s clemency reforms. The Governor’s regressive move set the stage for the effort to ultimately pass Amendment 4 years later.

Brennan Center Materials

• A report tracing the history of Florida’s felony disenfranchisement law back to America’s Jim Crow past and explaining how its impact is felt in the state’s democracy today.
• The Brennan Center’s policy proposal for restoring voting rights for citizens with past criminal convictions.
• Testimonials of individuals who regained their voting rights after being disenfranchised because of past criminal convictions.
• A report on how complex laws, poorly informed officials, and misinformation lead to the de facto disenfranchisement of citizens with past criminal convictions who are eligible to vote.
• A piece examining the historical roots of criminal disenfranchisement laws that today strip voting rights from millions of U.S. citizens.

For more information about the Brennan Center’s work on Restoring Voting Rights in Florida, please contact Connie Wu at [email protected].

Informed citizens are democracy’s best defense

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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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I need help developing a thesis statement based on the following...

I need help developing a thesis statement based on the following research question:

How did many states deny the right to vote to blacks, and how did the Voting Rights Act safeguard their right to vote when the 15th Amendment, which granted the rights, was unable to?

Answer & Explanation

The Voting Right Act of 1965 provides that African Americans should be granted the right to vote by abolishing discriminatory voting practices.

African Americans should be granted the right to vote by abolishing any discriminatory voting practices against them.

Discriminatory voting practices such as the grandfather clause hindered African Americans to exercise their rights.

Many states used the "grandfather clause" to keep descendants of slaves out of elections until the Supreme Court struck it down in 1915. The clause stated that you could not vote unless your grandfather had voted, which was impossible for most people with slave ancestors.. However, the Voting Rights act prohibited the use of literacy tests, established federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than half of the non-white population was not registered to vote, and authorized the United States Attorney General to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections. It eliminated all remaining barriers to voting

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