Should the Formerly Incarcerated Be Allowed to Vote?

A recent post on Colorlines.com by Jorge Rivas talks about Tayna Fogle, a mother of two, a grandmother of six, a basketball champion and a formerly incarcerated individual who spent a decade in prison. After a decade in prison and having the right to vote taken away from her she went on to fight through months of legal proceedings to be able to vote again.

Today she works with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth as an organizer and voting rights activist to help other formerly incarcerated individuals regain their right to vote.

Although this blog is about racism and this article isn't particularly about race, I wanted to feature this article because of their relationship. We know that most individuals in our prisons are people of color, so it is fair to assume that many of the individuals that this subject relates to are also people of color. I can understand those with mental illness or even serious crimes should not be allowed to vote. But what about individuals who cannot vote because of marijuana related incidents? Because a person may get caught with this substance that even our founding fathers grew on their plantations and maybe even partook themselves, should they be stripped of their right to vote? Now I'm not saying we should flat out let them vote. I'm just saying perhaps we need to look into it more. With the last election being so racially divided how would it have been if some formerly incarcerated, less serious offense, assuming people of color were allowed to vote? Could it be that this same system keeps people of color down not only through more incarcerations but along with less voting power?