New laws restore voting rights to residents with felony convictions • Michigan Advance

As political campaigns vie for every vote, the Plains states of Nebraska and Oklahoma have introduced laws aimed at restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions. Bringing thousands of voters back into the political process could potentially impact election outcomes in some communities.

Other states have also taken steps to expand or restrict ballot access for residents convicted of felonies. The laws may affect only a few thousand voters in each state, but in close races those numbers can make a difference.

Nebraska’s new lawThe law passed in the spring erases the two-year waiting period and restores the right to vote to nearly 7,000 Nebraskans who have completed their sentences since 2022, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit criminal justice research and advocacy group.

On July 17, two days before the law went into effect, Republican Attorney General Mike Hilgers issued an opinion. to dispute the new law violated the Nebraska Constitution. Hilgers also argued that 2005 was the basis. lawThe law that automatically restored voting rights two years after completion of a felony sentence was unconstitutional.

As a result, Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen ordered county election offices to stop registering people convicted of felonies.

But last week, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered Evnen to “immediately” enforce the law.

Now Nebraskans who are newly eligible to vote have until Friday’s in-person voter registration deadline to register. Advocacy groups have called on Evnen to extend the deadline. The State Department told Stateline that the state’s registration deadline will not be extended.

Oklahoma already restores residents’ voting rights after they complete sentences that include prison time, parole and probation. But earlier this year, lawmakers passed a law guaranteeing the right to vote immediately after an amnesty or commutation.

The new law, which will come into force in January, clarifies the right to vote for people who were previously convicted of a serious crime but whose sentences were commuted. Hundreds of Oklahomans He was released from prison in 2019 It’s in the nation’s largest mass commutation after state voters approved a ballot measure that changed many drug-related criminal charges to misdemeanors.

Last year, Minnesota and New Mexico lifted voting restrictions for people convicted of felonies and restored voting rights upon completion of incarceration. Previously, these residents were required to complete their entire sentence, including parole or probation, before they could regain their right to vote.

Now, with less than two weeks until Election Day, tens of thousands of previously disenfranchised voters will be able to vote, some for the first time.

But nationally, nearly 4 million U.S. citizens cannot vote this year because they were once convicted of a felony. Punishment Project.

Most of these people (about 7 in 10) live in their own communities; They have either completed their sentences or are still under supervision while on probation or parole. Others remain in prison.

New restrictions on voting rights

Last year, many states moved to further restrict the voting rights of people with felony convictions.

North Carolina Supreme Court in April 2023 approved A state law banning individuals subject to probation, parole or other forms of control from voting has been overturned by a lower court’s 2022 decision that struck down the statute.

Tennessee Supreme Court in July 2023 Issue An order requiring felons to have their voting rights restored by a judge or to provide evidence that they have been pardoned.

And in Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in March 2023 retreated the almost automatic restoration of voting rights; a process that has been used by both Democratic and Republican governors in the state for more than a decade. As a result, Virginians with felony convictions must now apply to have their voting rights restored.

Laws that disenfranchise people convicted of felonies predate the founding of the United States, according to voting rights experts. And most of the state’s disenfranchisement laws were passed after the Civil War.

“In the United States, after the Civil War in the Southern states, felony disenfranchisement really proliferated as a way to disenfranchise Black men who had earned the right to vote,” said Blair Bowie, an attorney and director of the campaign’s Reclaim Your Vote project. The Law Center is a legal advocacy organization. The center has a helpline and online tool This helps people check if they are eligible to vote in their state.

Today, some states restore the right to vote after release from prison, while others require people to wait until they receive clemency, complete probation or parole, pay all fines, fees, and restitution, abide by the waiting period, or meet certain conditions. these requirements. Some states also restrict voting by people convicted of felonies, depending on the type of crime committed.

No one is automatically registered to vote; People must register themselves.

In two states (Maine and Vermont) and the District of Columbia, felons never lose their right to vote. National Conference of State Legislatures.

Voting access in prisons

In many states, incarcerated U.S. citizens retain the right to vote, including when they are being held pre-trial or serving time in local jails.

For example, earlier this year Virginia passed a test. law Allowing registered voters who are incarcerated while awaiting trial or have been convicted of a misdemeanor to vote by absentee ballot.

Voting barriers for those who are incarcerated can include difficulties registering or requesting an absentee ballot, affording postage or even accessing a pen to fill out an ballot, said the Campaign Legal Center’s Bowie.

“Their right to access the ballot box is, in theory, constitutionally protected,” Bowie said. “It’s hard to actually vote, and it’s hard to enforce that constitutional right.”

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