Source: sentencingproject.org 6/27/24 The United States is an outlier nation in that it strips voting rights from millions of citizens solely on the basis of a criminal conviction. As of 2022, over 4.4 million people in the United States were disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. This is due in part to over 50 years of U.S. mass incarceration, wherein the U.S. incarcerated population increased from about 360,000 people in the early 1970s to nearly 2 million in 2022. While many U.S. states have scaled back their disenfranchisement provisions, a…
Read MoreTag: voting rights
Trump’s case casts a spotlight on movement to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies
Source: apnews.com 5/31/24 [ACSOL is posting this non-partisan article about voting rights because it affects registrants] WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican-led states have historically made it difficult for those convicted of a felony to vote or barred it altogether. Now the Republicans’ presumptive nominee for president, who lives in one of those states, is among them. Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money case puts a spotlight on a wider movement to restore rights that has been gaining momentum in recent years, with the notable exception of Trump’s newly…
Read MoreEditorial: A felony conviction should not come with a life sentence on voting rights
Source: latimes.com 5/20/24 Voting is not a privilege. It’s a right. But one group of citizens has been long denied that right in parts of the country. In half the states, including California, people convicted of felonies who have served their time in prison re-enter their communities with the right to vote automatically and immediately restored. In Vermont, Maine and the District of Columbia, people retain their right to vote even when incarcerated. But the other 25 states have at least some temporary voting restrictions on people formerly incarcerated on…
Read MoreNE: Nebraska lawmakers pass a bill to restore voting rights to newly released felons
Source: apnews.com 4/12/24 OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill Thursday to restore the voting rights of those convicted of felonies upon the completion of their sentences, including prison and parole time. The bill, introduced for years by Omaha state Sen. Justin Wayne, passed by a wide margin in the last year of Wayne’s second term. He is barred by term limits from running this year for a third term. Currently, a person who has been convicted of a felony must wait two years after completing all the…
Read MoreAction Alert for all states: Sign petition to reinstate voting rights for returning citizens
Source: Rita Finley at change.org Why this petition matters: As an American citizen, I firmly believe in the principle that every individual should have an equal right to vote. This belief is not just personal but also echoes the words of Lyndon B. Johnson who once said, “Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right.” The issue at hand concerns returning citizens – individuals who have served their sentences and are now striving to reintegrate into…
Read MoreMS: Lifetime voting ban for felony convictions struck down in Mississippi
Source: abcnews.go.com 8/4/23 Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban for people with disqualifying felony convictions has been struck down in a new decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The court’s 2-1 decision will restore the right to vote for tens of thousands of Mississippians, according to the plaintiff’s council Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. The court ruled Thursday in the case of Hopkins v. Hosemann that by banning former offenders “from the body politic forever” they will be punished “beyond the term their culpability requires,” according…
Read MoreFL: Weaponization of Florida’s Legal System Being Used Against People on the Sex Offender Registry
Source: tampabay.com 6/9/23 Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed that if he wins the presidency he will “excise political bias and end weaponization” of the U.S. Department of Justice “once and for all.” “We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday night in response to news that former President Donald Trump has been federally indicted on charges related to mishandling classified documents. The tone was consistent with DeSantis’ portrayal of himself as fighting against liberal takeovers of powerful institutions.…
Read MoreFL: Republican prosecutor declined to pursue cases similar to those brought by DeSantis’ election police
Source: orlandosentinel.com 6/5/23 A Republican state attorney last May declined to prosecute six voter fraud cases that involved circumstances strikingly similar to the cases later brought against 20 ex-felons by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ election police unit and statewide prosecutors. The office of State Attorney Bill Gladson, whose district includes The Villages and five Republican counties, confirmed six convicted sex offenders in Lake County had voted in the 2020 general election, according to a determination letter obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. Read the full article
Read MoreFL: Orlando man arrested by DeSantis’ election police works to rebuild his life — again
Source: orlandosentinel.com 5/12/23 Peter Washington Jr. had never voted in his life. But, in May 2019, he filled out a voter application so he could join his wife and “do something good.” “We had just gotten married,” he said. “We were doing a lot of things together.” Days after submitting his application, he was cleared by the state and received his voter ID in the mail. In October of the following year, the couple walked into the Hiawassee Library, near their home in Pine Hills. “I was anxious … scared,”…
Read MoreFL: Officials: Florida Sex Offender Charged With Illegal Voting
Source: usnews.com 5/10/23 MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — A registered sex offender in Florida has been arrested on charges that he voted illegally in the November 2020 election. Louis Palmieri, 77, of Melbourne, was charged Tuesday with false affirmation in connection with an election and voting by an unqualified elector, both third-degree felonies, according to Brevard County jail records. Melbourne is on the Atlantic coast, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Orlando. Palmieri voted in the November 2020 election after signing paperwork claiming he was eligible to vote, the Florida…
Read MoreCA: California proposal would reinstate prisoners’ voting rights
Source: apnews.com 2/8/23 LOS ANGELES (AP) — California voters could decide whether to reinstate voting rights to people in prison on felony convictions under a newly proposed constitutional amendment. It would be a major expansion of suffrage for incarcerated people if passed. California would join Maine and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia, as the only states where felons never lose their right to vote, even while they are in prison, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The California bill, introduced Monday by Assembly Member Isaac…
Read MoreFL: Police cameras show confusion, anger over DeSantis’ voter fraud arrests
Source: tampabay.com 10/18/22 TALLAHASSEE — When police went to arrest Tony Patterson outside his Tampa home in August, he couldn’t believe the reason. “What is wrong with this state, man?” Patterson protested as he was being escorted to a police car in handcuffs. “Voter fraud? Y’all said anybody with a felony could vote, man.” Body-worn camera footage recorded by local police captured the confusion and outrage of Hillsborough County residents who found themselves in handcuffs for casting a ballot following investigations by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new Office of Election Crimes…
Read MoreFL: WESH 2 Investigates allegations of sex offenders being allowed to vote
Source: wesh.com 8/1/22 Morris ___ lives in Poinciana. Elections office records indicate he’s “eligible to vote in Osceola County.” His status is “active,” meaning he can vote next month and this November in Osceola County and in the 2020 general election, he did vote. Morris is also a registered sex offender. Because of this, he should be ineligible to vote under Florida law. WESH 2 checked online with the executive office of clemency, under Morris’s name and prison ID number. It confirms his civil rights have not been restored. By…
Read MoreAction Alert for WA Residents: Write Comments on HB 1078 to Restore Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights
[familysafetyfoundation.org – 1/18/21] This Thursday, January 21, the Washington House State Government and Tribal Relations committee will vote on HB 1078. If this bill becomes law, voting rights will be restored to all Washington state citizens who have been convicted of a felony as soon as they are released from incarceration. Under current law, voting rights are only restored after the person is released from community supervision and the person has finished meeting any legal financial obligations associated with the conviction. Information about the bill and a video recording of…
Read MoreMany CA Registrants Eligible to Vote
The State of California allows many, although not all, registrants to vote in every election (local, state, federal). There are three basic criteria to determine a person’s eligibility to vote: (1) U.S. citizenship, (2) at least 18 years old on election day, and 3) not currently found mentally incompetent. There are additional eligibility criteria for individuals who have been convicted of an offense, including a sex offense. “It is important that registrants know their voting rights,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “In the past, some government employees have wrongly…
Read MoreFL: Florida can’t bar felons from registering to vote over fees and fines, court rules
[cbsnews.com – 2/19/20] Florida cannot bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge’s preliminary injunction that the implementation of Amendment 4 – approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 to allow most felons who served their time to regain the right to vote – amounted to an unfair poll tax that would…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: All Felons Deserve the Right to Vote
Although the next major election is more than a year away, it’s not too early to focus on who is eligible to vote. This issue is important because the total number of voters, in general, and the groups of people eligible to vote, could determine the result of that election. I am saying this while watching a struggle in Florida. A struggle about who may be eligible to vote in November 2020 and beyond. As the number of candidates for the 2020 election continues to grow, the State of Florida…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: You May Be Eligible to Vote (CA)
The mid-term election will take place in about two months. And it is important that your voice as well as the voices of all eligible registrants be heard in that important election. Many, although not all, registrants in the State of California are eligible to vote. For example, you are eligible to vote if you are currently in jail provided that you are serving a misdemeanor sentence or are awaiting trial. You are also eligible to vote if you are on federal supervised release, mandatory supervision or probation. Finally, you…
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