I believe it to be a short-sited thing, but honestly necessary. This is due to the very large range of federal convictions. It goes from having some pot on you, to armed robbery and murder. I don’t agree that those things should necessarily (case by case) include the same voting restrictions, but there is no way the US government is going to take the time to separate the “worse” crimes from the “lesser”. And, as has been mentioned before the goal of the US penal system is (sadly) not rehabilitation. As long as the government has that attitude, it will never change. You lose more than just the right to vote as a felon, btw. The rights most often curtailed include the right to vote and hold public office, employment rights, domestic rights, and financial and contractual rights.
It’s necessary because our government is stupid, slow, and can’t make great choices. I should have clarified that it is deemed necessary by the government because they’ll never make the decisions to back it up. I don’t like it, and I never will. I typed that from the flawed perspective of government and should have worded it better.
given how little one vote matter, it seems to me that stripping felons of their right to vote is both petty and counterproductive if the point was to reform them into civic minded individuals ?
Also, seems kind of scary that this implies a future where so many people are in prison that their vote could actually tip the balance ?