So how did Maryland and the U.S get here?

In 1802, the Maryland General Assembly declares that only “free white males” can vote.

Dr. Pippa Holloway

“Laws denying rights and privileges of citizenship to those convicted of certain criminal acts have long existed in the western world. In fact, such practices date back to ancient Greece and Rome and have antecedents in early modern European law as well as in English common law. By the 1830s, most U.S. states had laws disfranchising people convicted of major crimes.

Northeastern and southern states, however, differed in the early 1800s. New Englanders opposed these laws and limited their scope. Representatives in Maine rejected a proposal for felon disfranchisement in 1819. New Hampshire and Massachusetts had no such provisions during this period. In 1832, the Vermont legislature eliminated a criminal disfranchisement provision that dated back the early days of statehood.

These laws were more common in the mid-Atlantic region, but they still faced opposition and were often watered down. Pennsylvania rejected felon disfranchisement in the 1830s and passed a limited version that temporarily disfranchised only some offenders in 1873. Maryland enacted felon disfranchisement in 1850 but only after an acrimonious debate.

In contrast, southern states uniformly enacted sweeping provisions permanently disfranchising for infamous or major crimes in this period, and there is little evidence of dissent or debate over this in the South.

In all regions of the United States, however, disfranchisement for crime seems to have been used sparingly before the Civil War. Only those convicted of major crimes lost the right to vote. The number of individuals these laws affected was small because convictions for these serious crimes were rare.”

Source: http://origins.osu.edu/article/voting-crime-and-race-history-stolen-citizenship-disenfranchisement-felony

Black People who were enslaved gained their Freedom 

• November 1, 1864, the Maryland Constitution of 1864 took effect. Slavery within the State's borders was abolished and Maryland became a free state. 

• December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provided that, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

• February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted the right to vote to Black men “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” 

  • However, Maryland DID NOT vote to ratify the 15 amendment. “Governor Oden Bowie made a speech arguing that the state's sovereignty on all matters would be unnecessarily curtailed, and Maryland's legislature unanimously rejected the amendment.” Source: https://msa.maryland.gov/dtroy/project/story.html

Origin of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services

“In the nineteenth century, debate focused on systems of penology. Penitentiaries were built in response to public outrage at the spectacle of convicts laboring on roads and other public projects. Their institutional function was to punish prisoners through solitary confinement and, later, hard labor. Prison labor began as a punitive measure, but by the end of the century was perceived as rehabilitative, which justified any profit to the State.

After the Civil War, Maryland used a contract system of prison labor and, between 1880 and 1912, the Penitentiary returned its greatest profits to the State treasury.” https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/22dpscs/html/dpscsf.html

In Maryland, there was no definition making clear what counted as an “infamous” crime. Since there was no definition from either the legislature or the courts, there was enormous discretion about the enforcement of the law. Black people were denied the right to vote for relatively minor offenses. And incarceration did not just mean that a person lost their right to vote but also that they would be forced into prison labor.

“African Americans exercised the franchise and held office in many Southern states through the 1880s, but in the early 1890s, steps were taken to ensure subsequent “white supremacy.” Literacy tests for the vote, “grandfather clauses” excluding from the franchise all whose ancestors had not voted in the 1860s, and other devices to disenfranchise African Americans were written into the constitutions of former Confederate states. Social and economic segregation were added to black America’s loss of political power. In 1896 the Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson legalized “separate but equal” facilities for the races. For more than 50 years, the overwhelming majority of African American citizens were reduced to second-class citizenship under the “Jim Crow” segregation system. During that time, African Americans sought to secure their rights and improve their position through organizations such as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League” - The House Joint Resolution proposing the 15th amendment to the Constitution, December 7, 1868; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1999; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

“Southern cities that never had a strong police presence moved to establish police forces, using Confederate veterans as policemen to patrol the city and protect white citizens. Black people were excluded from juries and experienced the criminal justice system primarily as criminal defendants convicted in higher proportion than white people.” https://socialchangenyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Lan-Cao_RLSC_43.1.pdf

Clarence Walker, Historian

 “The violence in the South... was directed at white Southern Republicans. It was directed at black people. It was directed even at people who were not ostensibly political... this was a war of terror, aimed at not only the suppression of black voters and black politicos, but also at whites deemed to be "race traitors."

Source: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reconstruction-southern-violence-during-reconstruction/

“Designed to reverse black advances, Redemption was an organized effort by white merchants, planters, businessmen and politicians that followed Reconstruction. “Redeemers” employed vicious racial violence and state legislation as tools to prevent black citizenship and equality promised under the 14th and 15th amendments.”

Source: From https://theconversation.com/exploiting-black-labor-after-the-abolition-of-slavery-72482

Fast forward to 2020

1 out of 16 Black people are disenfranchised from voting

Today an estimated 5.17 million people in the U.S can’t vote because of a felony conviction

Source: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/locked-out-2020-estimates-of-people-denied-voting-rights-due-to-a-felony-conviction/

Right now only Maine and Vermont do not take away a person’s right to vote.

Note: The populations of Maine and Vermont are over 90% white.

In 2018, Black Americans represented 33% of the sentenced prison population, nearly triple their 12% share of the U.S. adult population.

This link between voting and incarceration is not seen is many countries around the world. South Africa, Canada, Ireland, and Spain allow everyone in prison to vote. Germany disenfranchises for certain offenses like treason, but only for a maximum of five years. Finland and New Zealand disenfranchise only for election offenses and only for a few years beyond completion of a sentence. In France, only election offenses and abuse of public power warrant disenfranchisement.

Source: https://www.aclu.org/blog/voting-rights/racist-roots-denying-incarcerated-people-their-right-vote