In the wake of the April 1 mid-term election, a combination of groups demanded reform on the voting rights of felons Tuesday.
The Restore the Vote WI Coalition said in a statement 40,000 residents were disenfranchised in the recent Wisconsin elections due to laws disallowing some felons from voting.
According to state law, felons who are in jail, on parole or on probation cannot vote, though they can vote after those periods end.
Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, said taking away voting rights does not deter criminals. The LWVW is part of the coalition.
The people who think we should keep felons disenfranchised for committing crimes are fooling themselves,"" Kaminski said.
The groups said a poll taken in fall 2007 showed 70 percent of Milwaukee County residents support changing felons' voting rights once they are out of prison. A majority of self-identified conservatives and Republicans supported the measure as well, according to the poll.
Blacks are more affected by current policies than whites, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, with one in nine black Wisconsin residents currently unable to vote.
""People could be rebuilding their lives for one, five, 10 or even 30 years and not be able to, for example, choose the school board member who will make critical decisions about their child's education,"" Renee Crawford, associate director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said.
UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the laws do not deter criminals, but politicians are unlikely to risk being portrayed as soft on crime.
""Politically it is so hard to sell anything that sounds sympathetic towards criminals, look no further than last week's Supreme Court election,"" Franklin said.
The recent Supreme Court campaign was dominated by advertisements attempting to tie judges to offenders, Franklin said.
