Edward Snowden is the world’s most wanted man. He faces charges related to espionage and theft of government property for leaking classified NSA documents to journalists. He is actively evading U.S. law enforcement by living under asylum in Russia. So, can he still vote in the 2016 election? Absolutely, yes, according to Ben Wizner, leading U.S. attorney for Snowden and director of the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. “There’s no legal basis whatsoever for depriving Edward Snowden of the right to vote. The short answer is: He’s eligible,” Wizner told the Daily Dot when asked about Snowden’s voter status. “There’s no legal basis whatsoever for depriving Edward Snowden of the right to vote. He’s been convicted of no crime, much less one that would strip him of his civil rights.”
Two and a half years after his leak of secret National Security Agency documents, Snowden remains at the center of the ongoing debate over the balance between civil liberties and security. Whoever becomes the next president of the United States must grapple with this issue in a post-Snowden world, making his ability to actually vote for his candidate of choice all that more important, if only symbolically.
“He has every much right to vote as any other American citizen,” added Wizner, who took on Snowden’s case shortly after the North Carolina native turned 30 and became stranded in the transit zone of Moscow airport.
… “I’m not aware of any state that disenfranchise people accused of crimes,” said Richard Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine. “If he did not renounce his citizenship and intends to return to Hawaii, my guess is he could request an absentee ballot. But again, it is a matter of state law.”
Full Article: Can Edward Snowden vote in the 2016 elections?.