New old voters come March 2020. What?

Yesterday Governor Murphy signed into law a bill that restores voting rights for more than 80,000 people who are currently on probation or parole.

Per NPR, Murphy stated the following about those on parole or probation- “These are residents who are living as full participants in their communities and yet have been needlessly prevented from having a voice in the future direction of their communities.”

I am not in favor of this at all. Those on probation or parole are being monitored to make sure that they are not violating the conditions under which they were let out of prison and thus it makes total sense to me not to grant them the right to vote until they completely finish their sentencing time period. That is I mean to say that they could be sent back to prison if they violate the terms of their parole or probation and that means to me that they are still under the thumb of the law. And if so, then they should not have the full rights accorded law abiding citizens.

From PSMag.com, “Some pundits and legal scholars argue that felons should not be eligible to vote because when people commit crime they violate the “social contract.” The social contract is the agreement among citizens to abide by rules and laws for the good of society. This reasoning says that those who break it, say by committing a crime, are no longer entitled to the benefits of the contract, such as political representation.

People who study criminal behavior often say the opposite is true. They argue that restoring voting rights may, in fact, reinstate the social contract and improve factors that led the individual to commit crime in the first place.”

I have no problem with restoring the right to vote once probation or parole is completed. But I can not see any reason why that right should be given back before then. To do so signals that society does not feel that what they did was wrong in the first place. In other words, break the law and serve the time and then once time is fully served restore their rights. Not before!

What Governor Murphy and his Progressive followers have done is just wrong! If they had said that the right to vote would automatically restored upon completion of probation or parole, then I would have no problem with that. But restoring what was taken away because they broke the law while having not fully served their sentence is just stupid in my opinion.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike