Prop 17: California Measure's Pros And Cons

LOS ANGELES, CA — Proposition 17 is one of two ballot measures seeking state constitutional amendments to expand voting rights. With Prop 17, voters are being asked to allow parolees to vote.

Prop 17 is the latest measure in a nationwide movement to restore voting rights to people who have completed prison sentences. California is just one of a few states that doesn’t let convicted felons vote until they’ve completed their parole. Passage of Prop 17 would instantly restore voting rights to roughly 50,000 people on parole in California.

Opponents of the measure contend parolees haven’t truly served their time and that restoring their voting rights confers an unearned privilege upon people statistically likely to reoffend.
State Sen. Jim Nielsen, an opponent of the measure, phrased the right to vote as a privilege that parolees don’t deserve.

“Let’s talk a little about the universe we are dealing with here. They include murderers, voluntary manslaughter, rape, sodomists,” Nielsen told the Sacramento Bee. “For those that commit the crimes, particularly the heinous crimes, part of their sentence is to complete the parole period.”

Proponents, however, say it does more harm than good to disenfranchise parolees as they assimilate back into society. They cite a Florida study that found parolees who had their voting rights restored were less likely to reoffend. Voting is the very core of democracy, they argue.

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“The removal of the right to vote is not based in an interest in public safety,” Taina Vargas-Edmond, executive director of Initiate Justice, told the Sacramento Bee. “Rather, it is rooted in a punitive justice belief system that intentionally attempts to rob marginalized people of their political power.”

The state Legislature voted to put Prop 17 on the ballot, and the campaign has been one of the quieter in an election year focused on a divisive presidential race along with ballot measures tackling affirmative action, the gig economy and property taxes.

According to Ballotpedia, the measure is supported by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the California Democratic Party, the ACLU and the League of Women Voters of California.

Opponents include Nielsen, the California Republican Party and Crime Victims United.