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The Sentencing Project: Disenfranchisement News/Updates 8/14/08

Submitted by dguard on
National: "New Constituency" Targeted as Election Day Approaches Florida civil rights lawyer Reggie Mitchell, Alabama activist Rev. Kenneth Glasgow and various grass-roots groups around the nation are trying to register tens of thousands of newly eligible citizens with felony convictions for the upcoming election. "They have taken up the cause on their own, motivated by the belief that former offenders have been unfairly disenfranchised for decades," the Washington Post reports. Mitchell said the state's former disenfranchisement policy that banned all citizens with felony convictions from voting offended his notion of justice. "You can serve your time and still have your rights taken away," he stated of the former policy which was changed last year to allow those with non-violent offenses and paid restitution to vote. "I studied the history of black disenfranchisement in the state. We had the grandfather laws and the tissue-paper ballots. When a black man came to vote, they gave him a tissue-paper ballot that was later thrown out. There were lynchings and riots. We've got a long history of depriving people of the right to vote in Florida." Commenting on the Post's coverage, the American Prospect posted a blog entry that begged for a logical response to continuing antiquated disenfranchisement laws. "Such laws are Constitutionally suspect. If someone has fulfilled their legal obligations in prison, why are they still being punished after release? Why do former felons lose the right to act politically in their own self-interest once they are supposedly free? What, exactly, is Constitutional about depriving American citizens of one of their most basic civil rights? How does disenfranchising the formerly incarcerated encourage them to be productive members of society? Most ridiculous is the presumption that such laws are 'tough on crime.' How does preventing ex-felons from voting prevent crimes from being committed?" For additional coverage, read the Daily News Record. In the summer edition of the National Urban League's Opportunity Journal, Kara Gotsch, The Sentencing Project's Director of Advocacy, wrote: "[E]xcluding David Waller from the voting booth [because of his felony conviction] did not just punish him and his family, but everyone who believes in an inclusive democratic society." She tells the story of Waller from Baltimore, Maryland, who registered to vote last year when Governor Martin O'Malley signed a law automatically restoring voting rights upon completion of sentence. Entitled, "Voting Rights Movement Continues for Citizens with Felony Convictions," the piece also highlights the devastating impact of state felony disenfranchisement laws and the momentum to change them. Florida: Automatic Restoration is in the Governor's Hands Mark Schlakman offers several suggestions and steps that Florida can take to ensure that citizens with felony convictions can regain their voting rights upon completion of sentence. In a St. Petersburg Times commentary. Schlakman recommends that Gov. Charlie Crist, who has already helped restore rights to nonviolent offenders who have paid restitution - sign an executive order that would implement provisions of a comprehensive re-entry bill that passed the Senate this year but died in the House. "The three tiers of review that were established by the April 2007 rule changes, which can be cumbersome and costly, could be collapsed into one resembling the approach taken under former Gov. Reubin Askew, simply to verify completion of sentence," Schlakman stated. He further suggested that the government do the following: --The governor and Cabinet should revisit the long-standing clemency rule that requires ex-offenders to pay restitution obligations in full as a precondition for rights restoration. --The governor and Cabinet should readopt a 1975 Rule of Executive Clemency that provided for essentially automatic restoration of rights upon completion of sentence. --The governor and Cabinet should require that civil rights restoration review be initiated before offenders complete their sentences rather than afterward. --The governor should direct the state Division of Elections to provide local elections supervisors with contact information for ex-offenders who have regained their rights to vote to help reach this newly eligible population. Nevada: More Difficulty Ahead A recent policy change in Nevada has made it more difficult for individuals with out-of-state felony convictions to regain the right to vote. Voting rights will be restored by the Nevada Secretary of State only if voting rights were restored in the state where the conviction and release occurred. The Secretary of State now requires individuals to get documented proof that their rights were restored, which can be a difficult task in the state they came from -- and that makes it virtually impossible because "there is just no system in place to get it to them," a K-LAS Eyewitness News editorial stated. "The registrar's letters even re-accuse ex-felons of committing another felony by trying to register to vote." - - - - - - 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.
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