Vilsack to give felons who've completed sentences right to vote on July 4

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/national/18iowa.html?ei=5059&en=536d181f160dcc67&hp=&ex=1119153600&partner=AOL&pagewanted=print

Iowa Governor Will Give Felons the Right to Vote

By KATE ZERNIKE

Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa announced yesterday that he would restore voting rights for all felons who have completed their sentences, ending what advocates for voting rights had called one of the most restrictive disenfranchisement laws in the country.

The governor's order, which he plans to sign on July 4, will make an estimated 80,000 ex-felons eligible to vote. Advocates hope that the order, which comes after a similar restoration of voting rights in Nebraska, will encourage other states with similarly restrictive laws to broaden voting privileges for ex-felons.

<>Nationally, about 4.7 million people are ineligible to vote because of felony convictions, about 500,000 of them war veterans, according to the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes alternatives to incarceration. About 1.4 million are black men.

<>According to the Right to Vote Campaign, which works to reverse laws preventing felons from voting, 14 states automatically restore voting rights to felons after they are released from prison; four states restore rights after ex-felons complete parole; and 18 states do so after they complete their prison sentence, parole and probation.

Iowa is one of five states - the others are Kentucky, Alabama, Florida and Virginia - that deny a vote to anyone convicted of a felony or an aggravated misdemeanor.

_______________________

Kudos to Governor Vilsack for having the courage to restore the voting rights to those who have completed their felony sentences.

Jeb, the ball is in your court. Instead of using taxpayer funds to fight against lawsuits that would restore voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences here in Florida, do the right thing, sign an executive order that would restore their right to vote.

[hyphenate]

1. A felon can't vote in California, either

I think if someone has paid their debt to society and comes out of prison reformed, then they should have that right to vote. Many prisoners are better educated because of the prison system and have aquired a strong knowledge of many different facets of the criminal justice system that most civilians do not. They should be allowed to give their input.

[sui generis]

2. No they should be punished forever! And ever and ever!

unfortunately the people who support taking away their voting rights don't believe in "reform" - just punishment.

They are mostly the same people who catch wood thinking about male rape as an aspect of that punishment - and that even minor infractions like getting caught with a roach deserve decades behind bars.

[flpoljunkie]

3. It is an issue of fundamental fairness and civil rights. Those who have

paid their debt to society need not be punished further by being denied access to one of our basic fundamental rights--the right to vote in a democratic society.

We need to encourage people to become active and responsible citizens--not actively discourage their participation by stigmatizing and punishing them forever.

[sui generis]

4. absolutely

and the other point I would add is that the kind of ex-felons who are going to vote are more likely to be trying to get their lives back together and perform their civic duties anyway.

Not allowing them to vote is absurd, and even harmful.

[ISUGRADIA]

5. They can after parole in Cal, in Iowa and other states

the disenfranchisement is for life. So someone ends parole at 24, he's disenfranchised for life in iowa unless the governor restores rights

[Bridget Burke]

6. Good. Even Texas has decent rules on this issue.

Two years after completing their sentence--imprisonment, parole or probation--ex-felons regain the right to vote.