Voting Rights Restoration in the States: Agenda Setting and Policy Change.

Legislative activity in the states demonstrates that the issue of felon disenfranchisement is rising on the public agenda both within and outside Southern states. An estimated 3.9 million citizens, or one out of every fifty adults, has lost the right to vote because of a felony conviction and it is widely acknowledged that felon disenfranchisement has a clear disproportionate impact on the African American population (Fellner and Mauer 1998). Felon disenfranchisement policies may also have affected the outcome of past elections (Uggen and Manza 2002). Historic practices vary widely across the states (Mauer and Kansel 2005, M. Colgate Love 2005), and recent legislative efforts across the states diverge in content and approach as well. In this paper, we draw upon theories of agenda setting to explore factors that are shaping the felon disenfranchisement debate and which may provide an indication of the potential for significant policy change regarding the franchise. Agenda setting theory suggests that interest groups, state and citizen ideology, political context, state resources, and administrative infrastructure influence the ability of issues to reach the public agenda. We use cross-sectional time series to analyze the attempts of state legislatures in the fifty states to restore the franchise to convicted felons from 2001 through 2005. Findings demonstrate that interest groups, political context and administrative reforms are significant influences on attempts to restore voting rights, when controlling for regional effects. Specific administrative structures and state environments receptive to administrative reform may represent an avenue for policy change across the states. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]