dictate their own voting requirements, you end up with a patchwork quilt of some states with very restrictive felony disenfranchisement laws and others like vermont and maine that allow prisoners to vote. >> i'm surprised that there hasn't been -- maybe there has been a felon who's gotten a lawyer, taken it to the supreme court and saying we still have our rights. why aren't we allowed to vote? >> because they would lose. the felon disenfranchisement does not by itself violate the equal protection clause of the constitution. it is constitutionally permitted. it has been challenged. but so far we have many states that have some form of felony disenfranchisement. it is constitutionally permissib permissible. what makes the florida issue complicated is this question. this is what it boils down to. if florida has the right to ban a felon from voting for the rest