Arthur Rizer, an official of the R Street Institute, a public policy research organization in Washington, D.C., wrote recently in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, “Eligibility to vote is no more related to a person’s ability to pay off a court debt than it is their ability to pay off student loan or credit card debt.”

He added: “Making voting eligibility contingent on the repayment of legal debts will create two classes of people with past criminal convictions: Those who can afford to pay (and therefore vote) and those who cannot. This kind of wealth discrimination is anathema to fundamental American principles of fairness and equality, not to mention a violation of the U.S. Constitution.”

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