Almost 6 million Americans will not be able to vote in November's presidential election under tough state rules that have pushed the number of disenfranchised former convicted criminals to a historic high. A new study by the Sentencing Project estimates that a record 5.85 million people ? some 2.5% of the US voting age population equivalent to one out of every 40 adult Americans ? will be ineligible to vote in November by dint of having been convicted of a felony. That includes almost 3 million people who have served their sentence in full, including all probation, and yet are still stripped of their right to vote under harsh state laws.

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