Voting is the most valuable of civil rights any government can grant to its citizens.  In a republic it is the sole mechanism every citizen has of directly influencing the course of the polity.  Felons who are also citizens, and who have paid their debt to society, should be provided the opportunity to once again participate in their representative government.  To extend this valuable right further, to those who are not citizens or who cannot prove they are citizens, is a betrayal of the solemn trust we place in our elected officials.