<P> In July 2005, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack issued an executive order restoring the right to vote for all persons who have completed supervision . On October 31, 2005, Iowa's Supreme Court upheld mass reenfranchisement of convicted felons . Nine other states disenfranchise felons for various lengths of time following the completion of their probation or parole . </P> <P> Other than Maine and Vermont, all U.S. states prohibit felons from voting while they are in prison . In Puerto Rico, felons in prison are allowed to vote in elections . </P> <P> Practices in the United States are in contrast to some European nations, such as Norway . Some nations allow prisoners to vote . Prisoners have been allowed to vote in Canada since 2002 . </P> <P> The United States has a higher proportion of its population in prison than any other Western nation, and more than Russia or China . The dramatic rise in the rate of incarceration in the United States, a 500% increase from the 1970s to the 1990s, has vastly increased the number of people disenfranchised because of the felon provisions . </P>

When was the requirement to own property dropped