Wyoming lawmakers are going to study between now and the next legislative session the Wyoming Parole Board’s duties to restore convicted felons’ voting rights. On Wednesday, the Management Council, a committee of Wyoming House and Senate leadership, asked the Judiciary Interim Committee to study the issue. That followed an April 3 letter from the Parole Board sent to Senate President Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, asking for an interim study. Parole Board member Douglas Chamberlain, a former House speaker and Torrington resident, doesn’t think restoring voting rights to felons has anything to do with the board’s duties. “I suggested we have that issue revisited by the Legislature if they would because I think it’s a contradiction within the law,” he said.
Chamberlain declined to say whether he supported or opposed voting rights for convicted felons.
“That’s not even the issue, whether I’m for it or against it,” he said. “It’s what the procedure is for them to have it restored.”
In Wyoming, felons can regain their voting rights from the parole board five years after the sentence or probation period ends. They cannot have been convicted for a violent crime. They cannot have more than one felony conviction, unless they were convicted of more than one felony in the same crime incident, said Daniel Fetsco, executive director of the Parole Board Office.
Full Article: Wyoming committee studies restoring voting rights to felons.