Summary
Missouri state Representative Michael Davis has introduced the “Donald J. Trump Election Qualification Act,” a bill allowing individuals convicted of felonies to run for public office if otherwise qualified.
The legislation, named after Donald Trump, seeks to repeal a 2015 state law barring felons from candidacy in local or statewide elections.
Davis argues the law should align with Trump’s election as president despite his 34 felony convictions in New York.
He advocates for reintegration of felons into society, emphasizing their rights as citizens to participate in government and elections.
If they can run for office, then they can vote.
IMHO all citizens, in or out of jail should be able to vote. If one is a citizen, one should be automatically registered to vote at 18 yo.
i’d go as far as voting at 16, since that’s the age at which you can pay income tax
IMHO so should residents.
If you live here, you’re affected by politics, so you should get a say.
several states stripped non citizen residents of their local election voting rights this past election. i find it frankly disturbing
If you weren’t aware, there is a reason that politicians lobby to have big prisons put in their state/district: The census counts the inmates as citizens of the district to be included when making decisions about appropriating funds, but (in most states) they do not get a vote.
So you ostensibly get thousands of people who count toward your population for appropriations purposes, but you don’t need to even bother trying to woo as voters.
Felons actually can vote in Missouri if they’ve completed their sentence. This includes parole and probation terms.
Permanent disenfranchisement is actually less common than people think. It’s still too common by far, and we need to revisit the reasoning for disenfranchisement while incarcerated or on probation, but in most of the country a felony doesn’t prevent voting permanently.
I’m not super interested in defending trump or Missouri, but he was neither sentenced in general nor convicted of a felony, or running for office, in Missouri.
So other than the name and inspiration, none of this even applies to him.
I was just pointing out that in Missouri, felons aren’t completely disenfranchised. Yay marginally better civil rights than a lot of people assumed!
“I believe that we should punish those who do wrong, but once they’ve completed the terms of their sentence, we should allow individuals to reintegrate into society,” Davis told Fox2Now.
Better headline would be this Republican Representative low key just said Trump should be in jail.
Wait a minute, if that 2015 law stands, how come Trump was on the presidential ballot in MO? He is a convicted felon.
Nope, that’s not it:
No person shall qualify as a candidate for elective public office in the state of Missouri who has been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony under the federal laws of the United States of America or to a felony under the laws of this state or an offense committed in another state that would be considered a felony in this state.
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=115.306&bid=34682
“Candidate for elective public office in the state of Missouri” could be read either as can’t be a candidate on the ballot in Missouri or can’t be a candidate for a state position. It depends on if it means [candidate for public office] in Missouri or candidate for [public office in Missouri].
I don’t like how laws are always written very formally like that, I feel like English (or any language tbh) is able to be misinterpreted easily enough as is, and the stilted way it’s used in legal speak just leads to questions and misunderstandings like this. I’d much rather they be written as plainly as is possible and in ways that attempted to remove ambiguity instead of add it, though a lot of the time that’s the point I imagine lol.
With regards to the words “in the state of missouri” they likely conveniently interpretted it as running for an elected office that directly oversees missouri such as sherrifs, judges, state senators etc rather than a position that isnt within the jurisdiction of the state.
Trump was charged under New York law so it didn’t really apply to him (in Misery)
“I believe that we should punish those who do wrong, but once they’ve completed the terms of their sentence, we should allow individuals to reintegrate into society,” Davis told Fox2Now.
So not at all like Trump.
Luigi 2028
