Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is one of Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt., presidential campaign co-chairs, but he said Wednesday he does not agree with his call to give voting rights to violent felons such as Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
"I think that I wouldn't go that far," Rep. Khanna told CNN's "New Day." "He should have the right to be treated for cancer, if he has cancer, and he should have certain human rights, but I wouldn't go that far in terms of giving him the right to vote."
Khanna said in his state, there is a compromise that allows nonviolent felony prisoners the right to vote, but not people who have committed violent felonies.
"That to me seems like a reasonable way forward, where you're enfranchising people but not giving someone like the Boston Marathon bomber the right to vote," he said.
Sanders has drawn criticism after his comments on voting during a CNN town hall event Monday.
But Khanna said he does agree some people who are behind bars should be able to vote and Sen. Sanders has been talking about the matter because "mass incarceration is an issue of racial disparity."
"One of out every three black men are in jail or find themselves convicted of a felony," Khanna said. "We have a country that has gone from incarcerating 500,000 people to 2.2 million people and this is disenfranchising for many people of color."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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