Ex-felons' Voting Rights Misstated (Ohio)

Gee, what a surprise -- NOT!! BTW, the "Hamilton County" referred to in the article includes the city of Cincinnati.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/08/04/loc_exfelons04.html

Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Ex-felons' voting rights misstated
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Reform advocates fault Hamilton Co.

By Jim Siegel
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Hamilton County elections officials are providing "misleading and erroneous" voting information to ex-felons, a Cincinnati-area prisoner advocacy group said Tuesday.

The Prison Reform Advocacy Center surveyed 140 former state prison inmates and talked to all 88 county boards of elections. The group found that one in five ex-felons don't realize they can re-register to vote, and some election boards were unaware of the law.

<snipping>

Ohio is one of 12 states, plus the District of Columbia, that allows ex-felons to regain voting rights once released from prison.

About 22,000 inmates are released from Ohio prisons each year.

Singleton said the Advocacy Center is "particularly disturbed" by what was found in Hamilton County.

MORE...

to be eligible to vote in November? Efforts certainly need to be made to reach out to this population.

I still don't understand why people in many states are no longer eligible to vote once they are released from prison. If they have served their time, why shouldn't their rights be restored? I think this policy keeps them on the fringes of society.

in some states (like Florida) your rights are restored in a separate process. Although frankly, I think when a person goes before the Parole Board, that should be part of the process and by the time they are through and released from prison their full rights are restored.

Registration must be postmarked by October 2.

... for any Buckeyes out there involved in voter registration.

It was an Ohioan who had not voted in 30 years. She had just been on-line and found out that felons who had served their time and probation were eligible to vote in Ohio. She sounded like a little kid at Christmas, as she asked me where she could go to register, and if they were going to question her about her felony. This lady was absolutely thrilled. She and her husband will be registering and voting for Kerry this year.

Ohioans can pick up registration forms at post offices, libraries and courthouses; as well as most high schools and political offices.

Here in WV you can register at the DMV when you go to get/renew your license. Does Ohio have a similar accomodation?

WTF?!

IIRC, 12 states strip felons of voting rights and allow them to regain them after serving time, with varying degrees of complexity involved in recovering those rights. Not all states strip felons of voting rights (as I recall, felons in NY, for example, can vote from prison).

The laws vary from state to state and yes, some states do not allow those convicted of felonies to ever vote again -- which is, IMHO, not only ridiculous but unconstitutional. Sure seems to me that particularly in federal elections the eligibility laws should be the same no matter where you live.

This issue is a real hotbed of contention in Florida -- here are some related articles which delve into the scope of the problem:

http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/ConstitutionNewswire/10879.shtml
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/003822.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/feeds/0731vote.html
http://www.brennancenter.org/presscenter/releases_2004/pressrelease_2004_0608.html

you can be 100% certain Jeb Bush will send you an invitation to commit a felony and vote in both states.