Felony Disenfranchisement

Florida: Technology Aids State's Long-term Restoration Process State officials met with residents with felony convictions last week in an effort to describe Florida's new voter restoration policy, review cases and alert individuals of their voting status, Florida Today reported. Laptops were set up to review cases on the spot and how-to pamphlets and hotline numbers were distributed. "Florida gets it, and we are doing things differently now," said Janet Keels, of the Florida Parole Commission. In April, the executive clemency board eased the voting restoration process for those with non-violent records. The state is currently deciding rights restoration eligibility for nearly one million residents. National: Disenfranchisement Litigation Efforts Need Reform In an article published in the Journal of Law and Social Change author Daniel M. Katz argues for a new litigation strategy to reform disenfranchisement policy by using the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Katz contends that using the VRA in the context of Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution provides a new opportunity to challenge current policy, and that "statutes imposing lifetime disenfranchisement on all felons are per se violative of the totality of circumstances test" of the VRA. He also argues that Congress has the "unambiguous constitutional authority to pass a statute which enfranchises felons for the Congressional portion of the election ballot." - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information, email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

New York: Hearings Scheduled to Consider Parolee Voting Rights The New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform has recommended that voting rights be restored to individuals on parole in an effort to improve reentry by way of civic participation. A series of public hearings to consider this and other issues are scheduled starting November 13. Currently, in New York those with felony convictions under parole supervision, as well as New York citizens with a felony conviction from another state, are banned from voting. A majority of the Commission believe that parolees' rights should be restored, according to a Commission reform proposal. Florida: New Restoration Policy Needs to be 'Reengineered' State officials are reporting that more individuals - 35,000 to be exact - have regained their civil rights after the state's executive clemency board in April restored the right to vote to those with non-violent records "during this period than during any other comparable period in recent memory," states a Tallahassee Democrat op-ed by Mark Schlakman. Nonetheless, there are close to a million more individuals for whom the state must decide eligibility for rights restoration - a process that could take years. Schlakman writes that Gov. Charlie Crist's Cabinet "must revisit and reengineer that process to achieve more comprehensive reform." He further said individuals with felony records cannot easily gain employment and suggested that the connection between rights restoration and ex-offender eligibility should be omitted. "There would be no compelling need to distinguish violent offenses from non-violent offenses to determine fitness to vote. Similarly, there would be no need to subject rights-restoration cases to multiple levels of scrutiny and cumbersome and costly investigations," Schlakman wrote. National: Disenfranchisement is an 'Artifact of Jim Crow' Arguing that there is no reasonable justification behind felon disenfranchisement, "Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy" (Oxford University Press 2006) by Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen is reviewed in the Ohio State University Journal of Criminal Law. The review, entitled "Felon Disenfranchisement and Democracy in the Late Jim Crow Era," is by University of Arizona Professor Gabriel J. Chin, and focuses on the history and policy behind disenfranchisement. Chin writes: "It might be said that felon disenfranchisement is a folkway rather than a policy; it enjoys remarkably wide acceptance in codes across the country without a well-articulated justification or rationale, particularly for the period after full completion of sentence." The Michigan Citizen published an opinion editorial on disenfranchisement and how penalties for a crime continue even after time is served. Calling disenfranchisement a way to suppress black votes, author Dr. Henrie Treadwell, associate director of Development at the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine and director of Community Voices, also commented on each state's varying disenfranchisement laws. "The state laws are so varied that from jurisdiction to jurisdiction there is no consistency on what convictions will trigger a loss of voting rights," the author wrote. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: e-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

National: Resolution Supports Voting While on Community Supervision The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) approved a resolution in support of restoring voting rights upon completion of sentence including no loss of voting rights while on community supervision. The resolution was passed by APPA's Board of Directors last month. "Voting is an integral part of community participation in democratic societies and is one of vital importance in building truly representative governments," the APPA stated in a release. "When large sectors of the population are prevented from voting, a democracy cannot function as it should." Wisconsin: Challenge Posed to Policymakers, Residents The Capital Times in Wisconsin published a letter to the editor in support of Assembly Bill 390, which would give individuals the right to vote upon completion of sentence. The author of the letter, Greg Shiver, wrote: "If the goal is to rehabilitate offenders and integrate them back in to the community, giving them the right to vote is essential. What better way to tell someone that they are part of the community? By giving felons the right to vote we are promoting public safety." Mr. Shiver continued that an estimated 62,342 Wisconsin citizens with felony convictions are banned from voting - 1.5 percent of the voting population. International: 'Unlike the U.S.,' Australia Would 'Never' Disenfranchise Because of Past Convictions The Honorable Justice Michael Kirby, a member of the Australian High Court whose vote was in the majority in striking down legislation stripping inmates of voting rights in the recent Roach v. Electoral Commissioner, gave the address during the conferral of degrees at Southern Cross University in New South Wales September 29. The theme of Justice Kirby's address dealt primarily with the August decision which overturned legislation stripping all inmates of voting rights. In his speech, Kirby stated: "Some, of course, will say that we should not worry about prisoners. Take away their civil rights. Throw away the key. We all know the usual suspects who are of this persuasion. However, it has not been the temperate tradition of Australia. Ours is a land made up, largely, of immigrants without sharp class distinctions. Many of our earliest settlers were convicts. They were people who served their time. Prisoners must be able to "live it down." And as for those serving shorter sentences, they remain entitled to choose their rulers. It remains an inclusive society. Unlike the United States, it would never tolerate excluding millions (or thousands) of citizens from the vote because of past convictions ... The Australian Constitution expressly provides that a person may be elected to serve in Parliament although sentenced to imprisonment for less than one year. If a member of Parliament, with those higher duties, could serve despite such a sentence, it would be paradoxical to exclude altogether prisoners with their much less onerous obligations of being voters." The 4-2 decision, however upheld a 2004 law denying the vote to inmates jailed for more than three years. As a result, only 8,000 of the country's 20,000 sentenced prisoners can vote in the federal election scheduled later this year. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

National: Social Justice Groups, Latino Congress Hope to Affect Disenfranchisement In the Summer 2007 issue of the New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, Avi Brisman argues that environmental organizations "should consider criminal disenfranchisement to be an 'environmental' issue" and that activists "should work with grassroots social justice groups to bring about changes in state criminal disenfranchisement laws and policies." Brisman, an attorney and doctoral student in anthropology at Emory University, contends in "Toward a More Elaborate Typology of Environmental Values: Liberalizing Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws and Policies" that public participation plays an important role in shaping agendas and forming coalitions around environmental issues. The loss of the right to vote for more than five million Americans due to a felony conviction not only affects electoral outcomes, but has a profound impact on the direction of the environmental movement as the voices of potential supporters are lost. Brisman calls for environmental advocates to join together with those people working to reform felony disenfranchisement laws and recognize their common goal. A post-incarceration disenfranchisement resolution submitted by the New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice was unanimously passed by the National Latino Congreso during its annual convening in Los Angeles earlier this month. It endorsed the automatic restoration of voting rights to individuals with felony convictions upon their release from prison. The resolution also calls on legislators from the thirty-five states that continue to disenfranchise individuals post-incarceration to enact legislation that will automatically restore voting rights upon release from prison. The final decree of the resolution states, "the organizations represented by delegates of the 2007 National Latino Congreso pledge to support federal legislation that will automatically restore voting rights after release from prison on a national level." International: Still No Guaranteed Right to Vote - Using the Flawed U.S. as a Model While the Australian High Court struck down legislation passed last year stripping all inmates of voting rights, the Court upheld a 2004 law denying the vote to inmates who have been jailed for more than three years. The 4-2 decision restoring some inmates' right to vote in Roach v. Electoral Commissioner was made in August, but the ruling's impact became clear only after the court issued its reasons in late September. As a result, only 8,000 of the country's 20,000 sentenced prisoners can vote in the federal election scheduled later this year. "The judgments make clear there is no legal barrier to the disenfranchisement of significant sectors of the voting population, including 18-21 year- olds and anyone convicted of a crime deemed to be 'serious,'" the Westender reported. Solicitor- General David Bennett, representing the Howard government, suggested Australia could adopt many U.S. states' policy: permanently disenfranchising those imprisoned, even after their sentence had been served. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

Florida: Major Backlog - and It's Just Going to Get Worse After the Clemency Board's April action making voting easier for most people convicted of nonviolent felonies, Florida hoped to process all newly eligible individuals in time to make it to the polls in the presidential primarily on January 29 - but at this point, "that's not likely," the St. Petersburg Times reported. Nearly 300,000 former non-violent offenders have been identified as eligible to vote, but in six months time only 34,444 citizens' rights have been restored. "It can always be better," said Gov. Charlie Crist. "We continue to chip away at it and work at it. It's a new day in Florida." The Florida Parole Commission processes about 7,000 cases a month. The prison system reported that 3,000 new people are released every month, making it seemingly years to resolve the pending cases. "This just highlights the shortcomings of these new rules," said Muslima Lewis, an attorney with the ACLU and director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today.

Florida: Despite Landmark Move, Coalition Challenges Limitations of Re-enfranchisement Policy The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), a coalition of over 40 local, state and national organizations dedicated to eradicating Florida's antiquated and discriminatory voting rights ban, has submitted a memo to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to propose changes to the state's disenfranchisement policy enacted in April by the Clemency Board. The coalition proposes that the state adopt a "truly automatic, paperwork-free, rights restoration process for all Floridians who have completed their sentences, with any restitution owed to be paid, but not as a precondition to rights restoration." The current policy lifts the voting ban for non-violent offenders who have completed parole and probation and have paid restitution, but individuals must wait for the Clemency Board to restore their rights - a major obstacle according to the coalition. It also stated that the new rules pose several re-entry problems, including: -Burden on individuals who have been released and completed supervision -Needlessly complex and unclear restoration rules which lead to the poor administration of voting rolls -Bureaucratic delays in processing cases National: Jena Six Case, Disenfranchisement, Examples of Nation's Racial Disparity "The state laws are so varied that from jurisdiction to jurisdiction there is no consistency on what convictions will trigger a loss of voting rights," writes Dr. Henrie M. Treadwell, director of Community Voices in a column featured on BlackNews.com. Dr. Treadwell writes of the discrepancy and racial impacts of disenfranchisement and calls for action on the part of individuals nationally. "The burden falls upon communities to push their local legislators to advocate for reinstating voting rights to prisoners and those formerly incarcerated, especially the non-violent offenders." Theodore Shaw, Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, links racial disparities within the criminal justice system to the disenfranchisement of formerly incarcerated individuals and the Jena, LA., case in an interview published in the Oberlin Review. "[The Jena Six] is an example of the fact that racial disparities and discrimination are alive and well. While [it] is an important case, it is emblematic of a larger pattern of treatment of disparate ways of black and brown people that exist around this country ... Issues like felon disenfranchisement continue to bedevil us and will continue to bedevil us," he stated. International: High Court's Reasons Reveal 'Inconsistencies' in Constitution In August, the Australian High Court struck down a blanket ban denying all incarcerated individuals the right to vote, finding that the legislation was unlawful and unconstitutional. The Court's reasons in Roach vs. Electoral Commission and Commonwealth of Australia held that the 2006 amendments to the law were inconsistent with the system of representative democracy established by the Constitution. From 1902 to 1983, legislation banned certain prisoners from voting. Afterward, individuals sentenced for an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year were banned. Further changes to the legislation were enacted and in 2006 the Commonwealth Electoral Act was adopted disqualifying individuals serving any prison sentence from voting in federal elections. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: email: [email protected], web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

Wisconsin: Bill Proposes Voting While on Parole, Professor Shares His Story of "Civic Redemption," Importance of Voting Six Wisconsin residents would not be facing prison time if a bill introduced by Rep. Joe Parisi is passed by the legislature. Those citizens, who claimed they didn't know they were violating state law by voting while on parole, may return to prison - this time on voting fraud charges, according to a Wisconsin Public Radio report. Current state law bans parolees from voting. "They weren't out slashing tires, they weren't out holding up a convenience store. They were voting," said Parisi. "If our goal is to get people who have served their time in prison reintegrated back into society and to become productive members of society, a policy like this simply makes no sense." Having completed his sentence and parole, a Wisconsin professor voted for the first time in 2005 after having completed his five-year sentence. Kurt Hohenstein, who was charged with embezzlement, recently told his story of "civic redemption" at a public lecture at Winona State University where he teaches history, the Winona Daily News reported. After his release, Hohenstein, who lectures on the importance of democracy and voting, earned a PhD in history from the University of Virginia and won the Hughes-Gossett award from the Supreme Court Historical Society for his article on federal regulation of medical practice. National: Disenfranchisement Laws Produce "Invisible" Men, Women S. David Mitchell, law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, wrote a guest column for Jurist on the deprivations associated with felon exclusion laws. "When ex-felons are denied the right to vote, they are effectively silenced at the ballot box and are unable to choose political representation. ... While the laws have a direct impact on the lives of individual ex-felons, the laws collaterally impact the communities of which ex- felons are members." Mitchell advocates for the automatic restoration of rights upon sentence completion.

Arizona: Solicitor General Vows to Continue Disenfranchisement Arizona's top state lawyer is seeking to repress a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU in June challenging the state's voting ban, which denies the right to vote to citizens with two felony convictions or who have not paid financial penalties associated with a felony conviction. Solicitor General Mary O'Grady wants the state and assigned Judge Stephen McNamee to throw out the ACLU's case, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Approximately 176,000 Arizona residents are banned from voting. "That figure amounts to more than 4.3 percent of all voting-age Arizonans," said Alessandra Meetze, executive director of the Arizona chapter of the ACLU. Currently, Arizona automatically restores voting rights of individuals convicted of a single felony if they have paid all financial obligations. Australia: Landmark Decision Upholds 'Fundamental Human Right to Vote' In a landmark decision today, the Australian High Court struck down a blanket ban denying all incarcerated individuals the right to vote, according to the Australia-based Human Rights Resource Center. The Court found that legislation revoking voting rights promoted by the Howard Government last year was unlawful and unconstitutional. The Court, however, upheld the validity of the ban on those incarcerated three years or longer. The law was challenged in the High Court by Vickie Roach, an Aboriginal woman incarcerated in Melbourne. A press release from the Human Rights Law Resource Center states: "The decision of the High Court is a victory for representative democracy, accountable government, the rule of law and fundamental human rights. With Aboriginal Australians incarcerated at a rate of almost 13 times that of their fellow Australians, it is also a vindication of Aboriginal rights." - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information: Email: [email protected], Web: http://www.sentencingproject.org

Washington: Editorials, Advocates Still Steaming at Supreme Court Decision The Olympian published an editorial last week expressing disappointment in the Washington Supreme Court's 6-3 decision to continue the voting ban for citizens with felony convictions that have yet to pay restitution and/or court fees. The editorial states that "no one is arguing that felons shouldn't pay court costs, fines and restitution to their victims. What the Legislature must repair is the court decision that says failure to pay is sufficient grounds to deny voting rights." During a press conference this week, Gov. Chris Gregoire, also in support of re-enfranchisement was quoted as saying: "I just fundamentally don't believe in a debtors' prison. And so to hold people right to vote away from them simply because they're low income and don't have any money and can never fathom the capacity to pay back their financial obligation I just think is a lack of incentive of what's to do right in this country." Erika Wood, counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote an op-ed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer arguing that the current law creates a lifetime voting ban for low-income individuals as a result of the interest and surcharges imposed by the state. Wood shared the story of Beverly Dubois, who has completed her sentence but has outstanding financial obligations, to highlight how the law can act as a permanent barrier to the franchise. Although Ms. Dubois makes monthly payments, interest continues to accrue on her debt at a rate that is more than she can afford on her fixed disability income, Wood writes. "It is time for Washington lawmakers to get in step with the national movement to restore voting rights to people who are out of prison, living and working in the community." "States across the country have come to understand that giving someone a stake in the political process helps build community ties and foster social responsibility." For additional coverage of the Washington decision, see the Spokesman Review. - - - - - - Help The Sentencing Project continue to bring you news and updates on disenfranchisement! Make a contribution today. Contact Information -- Email: [email protected], Web: http://www.sentencingproject.org