The purpose of this research project is to look further into the political participation of convicted felons through their voting behavior. While states have different voting laws regarding the eligibility of felons to vote, in general, the population of convicted felons in the United States participates at a much lower rate than the general population. This study looks at how felons who are eligible to vote can be mobilized to participate, and if mobilization will actually have an impact on the individual's political behavior and attitudes. It is hypothesized that encouraging the political participation of felons will increase their likelihood to become a more active member of the political sphere with a high sense of efficacy, so in order to test this idea, studies were conducted on felons groups in Akron, Ohio and San Francisco, California. One group of felons received educational treatments on voting, and political information in order to mobilize them to vote, while a control group received an education treatment on environmental efforts. After receiving these treatments, elections occurred and the voting records of the participants has been obtained. From these voting records, information can be gathered on whether or not encouraging voting in the felons population produced any significant changes or not.
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