I can make a constitutional argument that a felon's
voting rights are restored the instant his time behind bars is over using Amendment 13 and 15.
Right now, the courts agree that you still have 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Amendment rights regardless of felony convictions. However, courts have ruled that your 2nd amendment rights and your voting rights are denied or abridged after some types of convictions.
Amendment XIII
1. 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.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XV
1. 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.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment 15 says the right of a US citizen to vote shall not be denied on account of previous condition of servitude. Amendment 13 clearly uses the term involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime, where a person has been duly convicted.
Thus, because Amendment 13 defines involuntary servitude as a condition of slavery or as a punishment for a crime and Amendment 15 states that prior condition of servitude is not a basis for denying a voting right, anyone who has been released from involuntary servitude has a right to vote.
My argument is that the courts have completely misinterpreted our constitution and its amendments on the voting issue, as is clearly stated above. Furthermore, their interpretation of the 2nd amendment right is based on the same false premise. Thus, once a person has been freed from incarceration and has been freed from parole/probation restrictions, that person has the right to vote and own firearms, as well as all of the other rights the courts normally allow them.