Speaker Series: Traci Burch

In this presentation, Dr. Traci Burch uses the administrative burdens framework developed by Moynihan, Herd, and Harvey (2015) to identify and discuss the learning, compliance, and psychological burdens that decrease voting among people with felony convictions. Using a case study of Tennessee’s rights restoration process, Dr. Burch shows how the compliance costs of voting after a felony conviction, specifically, paying legal financial obligations, providing documentary proof of eligibility, and submitting applications under rapidly changing rules, can stymie re-enfranchisement even among people who qualify to vote. These difficulties are compounded by confusion brought about by continuous changes in rules and fear brought about by high-profile prosecutions of people with felony convictions.  

To register, contact Sophie Kofman at skofman@abfn.org. 

Dr. Traci Burch (she/her) is a Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation and a Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. She is the author of Trading Democracy for Justice: Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation (University of Chicago Press, 2013), and coauthor of Creating a New Racial Order (Princeton University Press, 2012). Trading Democracy for Justice won multiple awards, including the American Political Science Association’s Ralph J. Bunche Award, Urban Section Best Book Award, and Law and Courts Section C. Herman Pritchett Award in 2014. Her work has also been featured in Political Behavior, Law and Society Review, and Criminology and Public Policy.