Conservatives, in particular, believe that Sanders simply wants to expand the pool of potential voters for Democrats. This is something which the Republican National Committee mentioned in a response statement to Sanders’ commentary.
The statement reads as follows:
“From suggesting that illegal immigrants should be able to vote, to trying to lower the voting age to 16, to now proposing convicted felons behind bars should be able to vote, Democrats are once again trying to rewrite the rules for their own political agenda. When they can’t win at the ballot box, Democrats instead try to rig the system in their favor.”
Other critics of Sanders have noted that people in jail are not free, thus eliminating the “slippery slope” argument which the senator presented.
