Sen. Kamala Harris, California Democrat, said Monday that she was open to the possibility of allowing the Boston Marathon bomber and other convicted criminals and terrorists to vote while imprisoned.
Ms. Harris made the comments in the fourth of five back-to-back town-hall meetings CNN gave several of the leading 2020 Democratic presidential-primary contenders.
Before her, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont offered a full-throated defense of letting criminals vote while imprisoned, not ducking from including convicted Islamist terror-bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Don Lemon “People who are convicted, in prison, like the Boston marathon bomber, on death row, people who are convicted of sexual assault, they should be able to vote?”
— CNN (@CNN) April 23, 2019
Sen. Kamala Harris: “I think we should have that conversation.” https://t.co/7zEbzJD0Mw #HarrisTownHall pic.twitter.com/t3S3nGdHyo
With Ms. Harris on the stage, CNN’s Don Lemon asked her what she thought of that idea.
SEE ALSO: Bernie Sanders says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, felons should vote from prison at CNN town hall
The former prosecutor initially parried the question, calling voting a right people “should not be stripped of needlessly” and saying that state laws that take away voting rights from freed felons racist.
But Mr. Lemon persisted, asking about people currently in prison or “on death row.”
“I think we should have that conversation,” Ms. Harris said.
Mr. Lemon replied, “OK, all right” and broke for a commercial.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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