Senator Reid's statement expounding upon the inherent racial discrimination of disenfranchisement legislation:

"This disproportionately affects ethnic minorities. According to the Sentencing Project, an estimated 13 percent of adult African Americans throughout the United States are unable to vote as a result of varying State disenfranchisement laws. The rate is, unbelievably, seven times the national average. In some States, the numbers are more extraordinary. In Florida and Alabama, more than 31 percent of all African American men are permanently barred from ever voting in those States again. In six other States, the percentage of African American men permanently disfranchised is over 20 percent. Given current rates of incarceration, the Sentencing Project estimates that up to 40 percent of African American men may permanently lose their right to vote" (U.S. Senate Congressional Record 2002, S801, emphasis added).