American Election Law Is So Strange

[queerbychoice]

In Ohio's 17th Congressional District, voters will be able to choose between a Republican, a Democrat and an independent -- former Rep. James Traficant, who was expelled in July and is serving an eight-year prison term for bribery and racketeering.

If Traficant wins re-election from his prison cell in Pennsylvania, he could be the first inmate congressman since Matthew Lyon of Vermont more than 200 years ago -- though the same lawmakers who tossed him out would have the power to refuse to seat him. Incidentally, Traficant could not vote for himself because of his felony convictions.

from CNN.com

I don't understand why convicted felons should be deprived of the right to vote in the first place, but the fact that they are allowed to hold political office while in prison even though they're not allowed to vote is even odder.

Everything else in the election looks rather unpleasant, at least in regard to the parts of the nation other than California, so I'm grasping for all the amusement I can find.