Illinois Governor Blocks Bill To Tell People With Criminal Histories About Their Voting Rights

Source: Huffington Post

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) blocked legislation on Friday that would have required corrections officials throughout the state to help people detained in jails and prisons understand whether they can vote.

The bill would have required election and corrections officials to offer ballots to people being detained in jail prior to their trials who want to vote. It would have also required corrections officials to provide voter registration forms to people being released from jail and information about voting rights to those leaving prison.

The bill was meant to reduce the confusion about voting rights that contributes to voter disenfranchisement. People detained in jails often have no idea they are eligible to vote, let alone how to request a ballot to do so. The policies governing whether felons can vote when they are released from prison vary widely from state to state. Offenders, as well as parole officers and other corrections officials, can easily be confused about who has the right to vote.

In his veto, Rauner didn't object to helping people get access to ballots during pretrial detention, but specifically took issue with the requirement that officials provide voter registration forms to people leaving jail and voting rights information to those leaving prison. He said he'd support the bill if lawmakers eliminated those elements of it.


Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/illinois-governor-blocks-bill-tell-222316889.html

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Published August 20.

The bill passed the Illinois House of Representatives 64-37 and Senate 38-17. ... it will take a 3/5 majority (60%) of lawmakers in both the House and Senate to override the veto. (If the vote was simply repeated and had the same above outcome, they'd have more than the 60% in both houses, per my math: 64/(64+37) equals 63%, 38/(38+17) equals 69% )

The ACLU and others aren't asking for the correction officers to get Masters of Voting Law degrees and teaching certificates...

"All they simply have to do is put it in the stacks of paper that people already receive when they leave correctional facilities. We're just adding in additional documents at no cost to the state," she said. (The ACLU has agreed to pay for the cost of the documents).