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Attorney General Eric Holder is fighting to restore voting rights for felons who have served their time.

During a recent speech at Georgetown University, the Democrat said an estimated 5.8 million Americans are prohibited from voting because of felony convictions and the impact on minority communities is “disproportionate and unacceptable.”

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“It is time to fundamentally reconsider laws that permanently disenfranchise people who are no longer under federal or state supervision,” he said at the university’s law center. “These laws deserve to be not only reconsidered, but repealed.”

“These restrictions are not only unnecessary and unjust, they are also counterproductive,” he continued. “By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.”

Holder went on to say that these laws are rooted in “centuries-old conceptions of justice that were too often based on exclusion, animus, and fear.”

“They undermine the reentry process and defy the principles of accountability and rehabilitation that guide our criminal justice policies,” he explained. “And however well-intentioned current advocates of felony disenfranchisement may be, the reality is that these measures are, at best, profoundly outdated.”

MUST READ: Voting Is The Moral, Just & Socially Conscious Thing To Do!

There are currently eleven states that restrict voting rights for former felons who are no longer on probation and parole. Of that group, Holder says, about 2.2 million are African American.

Do you agree with his proposal? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comment section below.

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