Florida: Ex-felons need voting rights restored, group says | MiamiHerald.com

Hundreds of thousands of Florida ex-felons who have completed their sentences still can’t vote, a prohibition that is hindering their re-entry into society, a group of voting rights advocates said Tuesday as they urged Congress to step in. Changes made last year in Florida have stopped restoration efforts for ex-felons who have served their prison sentences or completed probation, a shift in policy that came four years after former Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet voted to join most other states and automatically restore the rights of felons who had paid their debt to society. Hampered in efforts to change state law, Mark Schlakman, a Democratic candidate for Congress and Walter McNeil, former Department of Corrections secretary, on Tuesday urged Florida’s congressional delegation to push for federal law changes to require automatic restoration of civil rights for federal elections.

Florida: Advocates calls for federal action to restore ex-felons’ voting rights | Naked Politics

Hundreds of thousands of Florida ex-felons who have completed their sentences still can’t vote, a prohibition that is hindering their re-entry into society, a group of voting rights advocates said Tuesday as they urged Congress to step in. Changes made last year in Florida have stopped restoration efforts for ex-felons who have served their prison sentences or completed probation, a shift in policy that came four years after former Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet voted to join most other states and automatically restore the rights of felons who had paid their debt to society. Hampered in efforts to change state law, Mark Schlakman, a Democratic candidate for Congress and Walter McNeil, former Department of Corrections secretary, on Tuesday urged Florida’s congressional delegation to push for federal law changes to require automatic restoration of civil rights for federal elections. The practical result, said Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, would be that state election officials would follow suit because a dual registration system for state and federal elections would not work.

Editorials: For felons, Iowa on wrong side of voting rights | Iowa City Press Citizen

There’s nothing to brag about in the fact that since Gov. Terry Branstad took over in 2011, Iowa has become one of the most difficult states in the nation for felons to vote. Last year, many civil rights groups were pleading with the newly re-elected governor not to issue an executive order that would return Iowa to a pre-2005 time when convicted felons didn’t have their voting rights restored automatically once they completed their sentences, probation or parole. Before 2005, felons could regain their voting rights in Iowa only by appealing individually for clemency — a lengthy process that required an investigation and a review by the governor. And because the process was so cumbersome that many ex-convicts decided not to follow it through, the net effect was near blanket disenfranchisement. In 2005, however, then Gov. Tom Vilsack issued an executive order that restored voting rights to nearly 100,000 of our fellow Iowans — many of them minority members — to participate in the political process.

Delaware: Bill Eliminating 5-Year Waiting Period for E-Felon Voting Rights Passes Legislature | WGMD

The state Senate Thursday passed the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would allow eligible felons to vote after completing their sentences instead of having to wait for an additional five years. House Bill 9 would eliminate a five-year waiting period that eligible felons who have fully discharged their sentences must endure before they can have their voting rights restored.

Iowa: Few Iowa felons pursue voting rights | Fox News

Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has made Iowa one of the most difficult states in the nation for felons to vote, with an executive order he issued last year already having disenfranchised thousands of people, a review by The Associated Press shows. On the day he took office, Branstad signed an order reversing a six-year policy started under Democrat Tom Vilsack in which felons automatically regained their voting rights once they were discharged from state supervision. The move flew in the face of a nationwide trend to make voting easier for felons, making Iowa one of four states where felons must apply to the governor to have voting rights restored. Branstad’s new process requires applicants to submit a credit report, a provision critics call inappropriate and unique among states. Since then, 8,000 felons in Iowa have finished their prison sentences or been released from community supervision, but less than a dozen have successfully navigated the process of applying to get their citizenship rights back, according to public records obtained by the AP. Branstad’s office has denied a handful of others because of incomplete paperwork or unpaid court costs.

Virginia: Restoring Voting Rights to Convicted Felons | whsv.com

Once a convicted felon, many civil rights are taken away, including the right to vote. Those rights are not automatically restored in Virginia. Beverly Thompson, a volunteer with the Augusta County Corrections Center says she and others want to help change that. Virginia is one of only four states that strips a person’s civil rights, after being convicted of a felony. “They can’t get it back unless they do a lot of paperwork,” said Thompson who tries to help inmates regain their voting rights. Thompson says that paperwork is inside a 30 page booklet called, ‘Virginia Civil Rights Restoration Guide.’

National: Ex-offenders find a reason to reclaim the vote | The Washington Post

Should American citizens who have been convicted of crimes and served their time have their right to vote restored? The question is a political issue, part of a voting-rights debate that is being fought in the states and among political candidates. To ex-felons, it can be a personal challenge, as well: Will their votes matter, and why should they care? The rapper 2 Chainz, made the case for the vote at a pre-show stop at the Urban League of Central Carolinas in Charlotte on Saturday. He told his story for 40 young people, a few with criminal records. The 35-year-old Atlanta-based performer said he was first arrested at age 15 for cocaine possession. When it came to voting, he thought he was “counted out” and didn’t know he was eligible until he picked up a brochure at a registration drive at an Atlanta mall. Along with 10 friends, he recruited from his recording studio, “I walked around with a sticker the whole day” they voted. “I felt rejuvenated,” he said. “I felt like a citizen again.”

Virginia: ACLU program encourages restoration of voting rights for former felons in Virginia | Luray Page Free Press

Taking advantage of recent announcements from the governor that he will expedite restoration applications to enable former felons to vote in the November elections, the ACLU of Virginia has launched a program to encourage and assist individuals with the restoration of their voting rights. The program begins with advertisements in today’s Voice newspaper in the Richmond area, and tomorrow’s Voice newspaper in Hampton Roads. Tomorrow’s Richmond Free Press will run a large format version of the ad. The ads say the governor has indicated he will be able to process all fully completed applications from non-violent felons submitted by June 29 in time for the registration deadline of October 15. Also, because the governor’s office has a general goal of processing such applications within 60 days, the ACLU is encouraging those who miss the June 29 deadline to try to submit applications by mid-August.

Nevada: Voter registration effort reaches out to unlikely constituency: ex-inmates | Las Vegas Sun

As customers entered Mario’s Westside Market on a recent Friday afternoon, they might not have noticed the nondescript table and its occupants sitting outside. There were no signs or group logos, just papers impeccably stacked on a table beside a pile of pens. Nearby, a neatly dressed Antoinette Banks, 42, sat in a folding chair next to her friend, watching streams of people come and go from the neighborhood store on Martin Luther King Boulevard. “How are you doing?” Banks asked those nearing the door, catching their attention. “Are you registered to vote?”

National: Felon Voting Rights Fight – The Forgotten Front In The War On Voting | TPM

State restrictions on early voting, voter ID laws and regulations on voter registration groups have been getting a lot of attention this year because of the impact they could have on the 2012 election. But there’s at least one voting issue that advocates say deserves more focus: the disenfranchisement of former felons. Nationwide, the approximately 5.3 million Americans with felonies (and, in several states, those with misdemeanor convictions) are kept away from the polls, according to the American Civil Liberties Unions (ACLU). The organization is sponsoring the Democracy Restoration Act, a bill introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), which would create a federal standard for restoring the voting rights of felons. The ACLU doesn’t have any pipe dreams about passing the law this year, but they’re holding out hope it will have a chance with a more favorable Congress.

Editorials: Democracy Restoration Act Would Restore Voting Rights to Millions | Huffington Post

Despite two centuries of a national history extending the right to vote to ever more Americans, state legislatures have recently passed a flurry of laws that make voting more difficult. Some require government-issued photo identification cards; others are obstructing early voting or restricting voter registration drives. It’s time for Congress to protect the rights citizens of a democracy hold most dear and create the opportunity for greater citizen participation. Members can begin by opening up the voter rolls to the four million Americans covered by the Democracy Restoration Act.

Editorials: New Virginia voter ID law and voting felons are unconnected but not unrelated issues | Kent Willis/Augusta Free Press

Contrary to what has become a popular conclusion in blogs and editorials, the recent revelations about felons having illegally voted in Virginia is not evidence that the state needs the voter ID law passed this year by the General Assembly. The emerging law – which is still being tweaked by the governor and lawmakers – requires voters who do not have proof of identification when they show up at the polls to cast a provisional ballot. It replaces a law that allowed voters without IDs to sign a form affirming their identity and then cast a regular ballot like everyone else. The purpose of the new law, according to its defenders, is to prevent someone from showing up at the polls and pretending to be someone else. The problem legislators have in defending the law is that no one ever fakes their identity at the polls. In fact, recent studies show that there is so little voter impersonation fraud that the chances of it happening are about the same as being struck by lightning.

Voting Blogs: California Felon Voting Case Asks: When is Being in Jail Not “Imprisoned”? | Election Academy

This week, civil rights advocates filed suit in a California appellate court seeking to restore the voting rights of 85,000 felons. Normally, these offenders would be ineligible to vote, given that California – like most states – has felon disenfranchisement laws on the books. But as the result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision aimed at overcrowding, the Golden State is reducing its state prison population by transferring tens of thousands of inmates from state prisons to county jails and tens of thousands more from state parole to county probation. In December, California’s Secretary of State sent county election offices a memorandum detailing how this “realignment”, as it is called, would affect the voting rights of the individuals involved. Basically, the memo says that almost nothing has changed with regards to felon voting rights; except in very limited circumstances (when the accused is convicted of a felony but required to serve time in a county jail as a condition of probation in lieu of a felony sentence) these individuals remain ineligible to vote.

California: Lawsuit pushes voting rights for California felons | The Informant

A lawsuit filed Wednesday by lawyers for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and two other nonprofits aims to protect the voting rights of thousands of convicted California felons. Currently, convicted felons who are serving time in state prison or who are on parole cannot vote under California law. But the lawsuit, filed at the First District Court of Appeal,  claims this does not apply to felons who serve their sentences in county jails. Last fall, California realigned the criminal justice system, transferring the custody of low-level felons to county supervision to help reduce overcrowding in state prisons. In December, Secretary of State Debra Bowen sent a memorandum to local registrars that these Californians cannot vote, whether they are in state prison or in a county facility, because county supervision is equivalent to parole. “If we can send people all the way to Afghanistan to fight for the rights of people to vote inside of a prison,” said Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, “it looks crazy to me that we would deny people the right to vote in the jail in Bakersfield or in the jail of San Diego.”

Kentucky: Kentucky weighs restoring voting rights to felons | The Courier-Journal

Restaurant manager Jason Marvin Smith of Elizabethtown said he accepts full responsibility for a felony that landed him on probation as an 18-year-old for possessing a half-ounce of marijuana while driving his car with an improperly stowed gun. But what riles him is that after completing his probation, he still could not vote. “I was in civil purgatory,” said Smith, now 32, who lost his voting rights for years before a governor’s pardon restored them last year. Kentucky is one of only four states that permanently bar all felons from the polls — unless they get a pardon from the governor. Smith and others are fighting to change that.

Editorials: Editorial: Ex-felons’ voting rights in Kentucky | The Courier-Journal

In a list found on the website of the National Conference of State Legislatures, state after state after state is on the books as restoring the voting rights of felons upon the completion of their sentence, probation and/or parole. Kentucky is not — but it is time for the Bluegrass State to join the ranks of the fair and enlightened. House Bill 70 proposes to amend the Kentucky state constitution “to allow persons convicted of a felony other than treason, intentional killing, a sex crime or bribery the right to vote after expiration of probation, final discharge from parole, or maximum expiration of sentence.” The amendment would be placed before voters for ratification or rejection. At the very least, the people of Kentucky ought to have the opportunity to weigh in on whether to correct the state’s virtual disenfranchisement for ex-felons, even after they have served their prescribed sentences. To allow a governor’s restoration of civil rights as the only way back to citizenship is unfair and onerous.

Minnesota: Voting rights for released felons debated in Minnesota | kare11.com

The remedy for keeping released felons from voting illegally in Minnesota may include speeding up the restoration of their voting rights. Currently those individuals aren’t permitted to vote until they have finished their supervised release period, which is Minnesota’s term for parole.  But Governor Dayton’s Election Integrity Task Force is exploring the idea of switching to the system used in North Dakota, where voting rights are restored upon release from incarceration. “It’s amazing how complex this all is,” Joe Nunez, the co-chair of the task force, said. “Some felons are under jurisdiction of the Dept of Corrections, some report to county probation officers, still others report directly to the courts.”

Editorials: Return voting rights to ex-felons | Kentucky.com

The Kentucky House of Representatives is once again acting favorably on a proposal (HB 70) by Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, to amend the state constitution to automatically restore voting rights to non-violent felons who have paid their assigned debt to society. Remarkably, each time in recent years this measure has passed out of the House it has stopped dead in the Senate. This is a good year to change that pattern. We are, after all, witnessing one of the great political processes as the presidential campaign unfolds before our very eyes. There is a lot of debate these days about the role of government in our lives, but does anyone really think it should be government’s task to prevent people from voting?

Virginia: McDonnell restores voting rights to more convicted felons than predecessors | dailypress.com

Virginia’s conservative Republican governor is on pace to restore voting rights to more convicted felons than any governor in the state’s recent history, including his two Democratic predecessors. Gov. Bob McDonnell, once the state’s Attorney General, has restored voting rights to 2,555 convicted felons — or 87 percent of those who have applied — since he took over as governor two years ago. If that pace holds for the rest of his term, he will surpass former governors Timothy Kaine and Mark R. Warner in the number of felons given back their right to vote. Over their four years in office, Kaine restored voting rights to 4,402 felons, and Warner restored the rights to 3,486 felons.

Virginia: Governor McDonnell leads way in restoring ex-cons’ rights | Washington Times

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, in the first two years of his term, has restored the voting rights of more than 2,500 ex-convicts — putting the former prosecutor and state attorney general on pace to eclipse both of his Democratic predecessors. Mr. McDonnell, who on the campaign trail promised to enact the “fastest and fairest” rights-restoration process in Virginia history, has been living up to his pledge. His office makes decisions on applications within 60 days and fully briefs prisoners on the requirements to apply.

National: Santorum defends support for restoring felons’ voting rights | Washington Times

Rick Santorum pushed back Monday morning against a series of ads being run against him on his record on earmarks, labor issues and a vote he took in 2002 that would have forced states to let felons’ voting rights be restored when they completed their sentences. Mr. Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, is demanding the felon charge be stricken from an ad being run by a political group backing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of his opponents in the Republican presidential primary. The ad says Mr. Santorum voted to “let convicted felons vote” — something the senator says is “explicitly false” because it implies, though it never says, that he wanted felons to be able to vote from jail.

National: Santorum hits Romney over voting rights attack ads | The Hill

Rick Santorum engaged Mitt Romney in a testy exchange over what the former Pennsylvania senator believed was an unfair attack on his record towards felon voting rights, providing early fireworks at Monday’s GOP debate. Santorum cited an ad by a pro-Romney Super-PAC that criticized him for voting in favor of a federal law that would reinstate voting records for felons who had completed their sentences and any required probation or parole. Citing that criticism, Santorum asked Romney if he believed “people who are felons who have served their time who’ve extended and exhausted their parole and probation, should they be given their right to vote?”

Kentucky: Activists pushing for automatic voting right restoration for felons | The Richmond Register

More than 186,000 Kentuckians cannot participate in one of the most fundamental expressions of speech — the right to vote, according to a report by the League of Women Voters of Kentucky (LWVK). Kentucky is one of the two states that permanently disenfranchise all persons with felony convictions after they have completed their full sentence, except through executive pardon, the report says. “The right to vote is a foundation of citizenship,” social justice group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth stated on its website. “We require ex-felons to pay taxes and comply with the laws enacted by their legislators when they return to their communities. The right to vote, a hallmark of our democracy, should follow.”

Editorials: The high art of disenfranchisement | Editorial/MiamiHerald.com

Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. Justice Department will move aggressively to review the plethora of new voting laws that state legislatures across the nation have passed in recent years to exclude minority voters. Get to it, Mr. Holder.

There is no better place to start than in Florida where picking and choosing voters has become a high art and low crime. And it is not just minority voters who face these new hurdles but young voters, voters who have moved into new precincts, voters whose interest in politics is newly awakened. In short, voters who aren’t part of a tightly knit group that can be counted on for party-line (dare we say, Republican) ballots in a state where Democrats outnumber GOP registered voters.

Consider the issue of restoring civil rights, including the right to vote, to people who have completed their sentences on felony convictions. Not a popular bunch, not a group easy to defend. Yet, these are people who have paid the debt demanded of them by society, and it’s in society’s best interest to give them a stake in the future of their communities.

Kentucky: Ex-Cons Want Ballot Box Rights | Public News Service

Voting rights advocates say it’s time to turn the tide for most of the 186,000 Kentuckians who are being denied a voice at the ballot box because they’re former felons who were convicted of nonviolent offenses.

The social justice group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is one of nearly two dozen organizations backing a bill that calls for a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights automatically to nonviolent felony ex-offenders.

Florida: NAACP report: Florida has ‘most restrictive’ felon disenfranchisement ‘approach’ | Florida Independent

A report released earlier this month by the NAACP found that Florida is among the states with the “most restrictive” felon disenfranchisement “laws in the country” — one of many aspects of the state’s voting practices that will limit voter participation among minorities, according to the group.

The subject of voting rights in the U.S. has received renewed attention since sweeping changes to voting laws were passed in states across the country. Voting rights advocates in Florida have largely focused on new limitations on third-party voter registration, early voting days and ballot measure signatures. Little scrutiny, however, has been given to a rollback of voting rights for ex-offenders, also referred to as returning citizens.

According to the NAACP report (.pdf), Florida is one of only four states in the country that “denies the right to vote permanently to all individuals convicted of any felony offense.”

Editorials: Who Gets to Vote? | NYTimes.com

Next November more than 5 million Americans will not be allowed to vote because of a criminal conviction in their past. Nearly 4 million of these people are not in prison, yet they remain disenfranchised for years, often for decades and sometimes for life.

States vary widely on when they restore voting rights after a conviction. Maine and Vermont do not disenfranchise people with convictions; even prisoners may vote there. People with felony convictions in Florida, Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia are disenfranchised for life, unless they are granted clemency by the governor. The rest of the country falls somewhere in between.

Editorials: Case for Minnesota voter ID is based on misdirection | StarTribune.com

On Nov. 8, the Star Tribune published a commentary by Dan McGrath that depicted Minnesota as a haven for those bent on voter fraud (“Ellison would export loose voting laws”).This from the mouthpiece of Minnesota Majority, a group whose articles of incorporation specifically state that it has no members and whose donor list is in the low single digits. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison is right in promoting Minnesota’s system of voting, one of the cleanest and most transparent in the nation. But McGrath plays loose with the truth.

So in the interest of Minnesota fair play, humor me while I lay out the facts. First, there were indeed approximately 140 ex-felons convicted of voting while on parole. However, that number included no people convicted for impersonating a voter — the crime that voter ID purports to stop.

South Dakota: ACLU, secretary of state to meet on felon voting rights | The Daily Republic

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota and South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant plan to meet soon to discuss the voting rights of convicted felons. ACLU-South Dakota issued a press release Monday alleging Gant’s office was wrongly informing some residents with felony convictions that they are prohibited from voting.

Gant said the ACLU’s allegations are “unfounded” but invited ACLU officials in for a meeting. Gant said the ACLU’s claim is based on a misunderstanding of his website. “The information they are referencing is on my website, and has been since May of 2010,” Gant said in a press release he issued Monday to counter the ACLU’s release.