Federal Legislation to Restore Voting Rights for Felons Filed in U.S. House and Senate

Federal Legislation to Restore Voting Rights for Felons Filed in U.S. House and Senate

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) has filed Senate Bill 772, a proposal to reinstate federal voting rights for felons who have already served their time. Representative John Conyer (D-MI) has filed a companion bill, House Resolution 1459, in the House.

“The Democracy Restoration Act is a narrowly crafted effort to expand voting rights for people with felony convictions, while protecting state prerogatives to generally establish voting qualifications”, according to a Thursday press release. “The legislation would only apply to persons who are not in prison, and would only apply to federal elections.”

“The denial of voting rights by many states to ex-offenders represents a vestige from a time when suffrage was denied to whole classes of our population based on race, gender, religion, national origin and property. “, says Representative Conyers. “This goes against the very fundamental principles of our Democracy… Just as poll taxes and literacy tests prevented an entire class of citizens, namely African Americans, from integrating into society after centuries of slavery, ex-offender disenfranchisement laws prevent people from reintegrating into society after they have paid their debt by serving time in prison.  Disenfranchisement laws isolate and alienate ex-offenders, and serve as one more obstacle in their attempt to successfully reintegrate into society.”

According to The Sentencing Project, since 1997, 23 states have amended felony disenfranchisement policies in an effort to reduce their restrictiveness and expand voter eligibility.  These reforms have resulted in an estimated 800,000 citizens regaining their voting rights.  Despite these reforms, over 5.8 million citizens continue to be ineligible to vote in Federal elections.  More than 4 million of the disqualified voters are not in prison, but are on probation, parole, or have completed their sentence.  Nearly 3 million of the disenfranchised have completed their entire sentence, including probation and parole.

“The United States is one of the few Western democracies that allows the permanent denial of voting rights for individuals with felony convictions.  State disenfranchisement laws deny citizens participation in our democracy and the patchwork of laws leads to an unfair disparity and unequal participation in federal elections based solely on where an individual lives, in addition to the racial disparities inherent in our judicial system,” said Senator Cardin. “Congress has a responsibility to remedy these problems and enact a nationwide standard for the restoration of voting rights.

H.R. 1459 is sponsored by: Representatives John Lewis (D-GA), Cicilline (D-RI), Ellison (D-MN), Jackson Lee (D-TX), Nadler (D-NY), Cohen (D-TN), Cummings (D-MD), Hastings (D-FL), Rangel (D-NY), Grijalva (D-AZ), Gutierrez (D-IL), Kaptur (D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Moore (D-WI), Serrano (D-NY), Wilson (D-FL), McGovern (D-MA), Sewell (D-AL), Chu (D-CA), Richmond (D-LA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), and Honda (D-CA).

SB 772 is sponsored by Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) and senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Durbin (D-Ill), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

– TheJointBlog