Disfranchisement can also refer to the revocation of power or control of a particular individual, community, or being to the natural amenity they have; that is to deprive of a franchise, of a legal right, of some privilege or inherent immunity.
20.748; the bill was sponsored by Senators Isabel Allende Bussi, Soledad Alvear, Hernán Larraían Fernández and Patricio Walker Prieto.
"[11] The Norwegian constitution of 1814, paragraph 53, stated that anyone being in service of another power, buying or selling votes, or being convicted to forced labor would be disfranchised.
These rules disenfranchised an estimated one-third of the voter roll compared to the previous election in 2019, including almost the entire community of non-Norwegians living in the town.
[16] In February 2018, the Overseas Electors Bill was presented to Parliament, with a view to abolishing the 15-year limit and the requirement to have registered to vote before leaving the UK.
[16] Efforts made by Southern United States to prevent black citizens voting began after the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877.
Their actions were designed to thwart the objective of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, enacted in 1870 to protect the suffrage of freedmen.
They favored seniority privileges in Congress, which became the standard by 1920, and Southerners controlled chairmanships of important committees, as well as leadership of the national Democratic Party.
Another method of seeking political advantage through the voting system is the gerrymandering of electoral boundaries, as was the case of North Carolina, which in January 2018 was declared by a federal court to be unconstitutional.
Since the founding of the nation, legislatures have gradually expanded the franchise (sometimes following federal constitutional amendments), from certain propertied white men to almost universal adult suffrage of age 18 and over, with the notable exclusion of people convicted of some crimes.
Public interest groups focus on fighting disfranchisement in the United States amid rising concerns that new restrictions on voting are become more common.
Congress had a committee, appointed from among representatives elected to the House, that administered the city and district in lieu of local or state government.
Congress uses the same portion of the US Constitution to exclusively manage local and State level law for the citizens of Washington, D.C. and US military bases in the US.
People seeking standard representation for the 600,000 District of Columbia residents describe their status as being disfranchised in relation to the federal government.
Juan Torruella and other scholars argue that the U.S. national-electoral process is not a democracy due to issues related to lack of voting rights in Puerto Rico and representation.
[citation needed] Jurisdictions vary as to whether they make such disfranchisement permanent, or restore suffrage after a person has served a sentence, or completed parole or probation.
[49] In the case Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) the Court in 2005 found general rules for automatic disfranchisements resulting from convictions to be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.
[54][55] In 2000 the High Court ruled that this breached the Constitution, and the government drafted a bill extending postal voting to prisoners on remand or serving sentences of less than six months.
Recently, the decree Severino added a loss of only the right to stand for an election, against some offenders above a certain threshold of imprisonment:[59] it operates administratively, with fixed duration and without intervention of the court.
Many court actions have been presented, but the electoral disputes follows antiquated rules and the danger of causes seamless in terms of eligibility[60] and incompatibility[61] is very high, also at local level.
In Hirst, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that First Protocol Article 3 requires Member States to proactively support voting by authorized inmates.
Separate challenges by the General Secretary of the Association of Prisoners, Ben Gunn, by way of petition to the European Union Parliament, and John Hirst to the Committee of Ministers are underway.[when?]
Following Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) (2005),[69] in which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled such a ban to be disproportionate, the policy was reviewed by the UK government.
[71] In response to the ECHR ruling, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Chris Grayling produced a draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill for discussion by a Joint Committee, incorporating two clear options for reform and one which would retain the blanket ban.
European countries that allow inmates to vote (as of 2012) include Albania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
[79] Twenty states (Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin) do not allow persons convicted of a felony to vote while serving a sentence, but automatically restore the franchise to the person upon completion of a sentence.
[80] Fifteen states (Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Utah) plus the District of Columbia allow probationers and parolees to vote, but not inmates.
[79] Eight states (Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wyoming) allow some, but not all, persons with felony convictions to vote after having completed their sentences.
[79] In Virginia, former Governor Terry McAuliffe used his executive power in 2017 to restore voting rights to about 140,000 people with criminal backgrounds in the state.
Losing voting rights is usually imposed on a person convicted of a crime against the state (see civil death) or one related to election or public office.