6 states have restored felons' voting rights. Maryland might be the seventh.

(Image credit: Tim Boyles/Getty Images)

published 7 December 2015

Voting rights for felons vary widely by state: In Vermont, everyone can vote, while in Florida, a felony conviction means permanent disenfranchisement. The last six years have seen as many states make significant (if varying) reforms to loosen voting restrictions within their borders, and Maryland may soon be the seventh.

A bill at the state legislature would allow felons to vote after their parole or probation is completed. Maryland's governor vetoed the proposal, which would restore voting rights to some 63,000 people, this past summer, but in 2016 a bipartisan coalition in Annapolis is expected to muster enough votes for a veto override.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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