California: Court Justices Uphold Disenfranchisement, Senator Supports Banning More Voters

The California Supreme Court let stand a ruling upholding California's absolute ban on voting by incarcerated persons and parolees, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported. The justices unanimously declined to review a ruling of the First District's Div. Two, where plaintiffs, representing people in prison and parolees, stated that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution only permits disenfranchisement of persons convicted of common law felonies. California currently disenfranchises incarcerated individuals and parolees, but allows those on probation and formerly incarcerated to vote. An initiative was submitted last week, however, that would ban individuals from voting while on probation, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Washington: A Long Time Coming

The state Senate passed a bill that would automatically restore voting rights to individuals no longer "under the authority of the department of corrections." The bill, HB 1517, will become law once adopted by the House, which passed another version of the bill last month. Under the amendment, the right to vote is automatically restored, but may be revoked if an individual willfully fails to pay legal financial obligations three times within a 12-month period. Under current law, Washington residents with felony offenses are barred from voting until they have completed their sentence including parole or probation, and have paid all restitution and other court fees, the Associated Press reported in the Seattle Times. "We want to give men and women coming out of prisons a chance to go in a new direction," said Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, who sponsored the amendment and voted for the bill.

International: Voting in Prison is a Civic Right

Commenting on The Independent's recent editorial supporting voting in prison, a writer's letter to the editor stated that the English government should reconsider its stance on disenfranchisement following a recent European court ruling. "...[T]he Council of Europe advocates a general stance of normalisation - making the position of prisoners as close as possible to that of people in the community as is consistent with the blunt realities of incarceration. The message to prisoners should be that they have responsibilities as well as rights, and voting, both a civic right and a responsibility, should be made available to them and encouraged."
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