Reid Shannon

Should people with felony convictions automatically regain voting rights after serving their sentences?

I work with people coming home from prison, and I watch the same pattern every month. A man gets a job, a bus pass, a place to sleep, and then asks me how to register to vote, because for the first time in years he wants a stake in something bigger than himself. Florida voters understood this in 2018, when [Amendment 4 passed with 64.5% of the vote](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-rights-restoration-efforts-florida), restoring rights to most people who had finished their sentences. Research keeps finding the same thing: people who vote after release are less likely to go back inside. The [Sentencing Project](https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2024/03/Locked-Out-2022-Estimates-of-People-Denied-Voting.pdf) estimates 4.4 million Americans are still locked out of the ballot box, and in Florida alone hundreds of thousands remain barred because of unpaid fines and fees. If the goal is fewer victims and safer streets, handing someone a ballot beats handing them a permanent label.

gerrymandering means my vote literally doesn't count. forcing me to cast it anyway is insulting

Politics · Oct 6, 2026 · Should voting be mandatory in the United States?

Title IX alone kills this idea. You gonna pay the womens rowing team salaries too? Schools will just cut sports instead

Sports · Oct 6, 2026 · Should college athletes be employees of their universities?