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At the 2009 Annual Brennan Legacy Awards, Emmy Award-winning actor Alan Alda, read from a few of the stories featured in My First Vote -- a compilation of stories from people across the country who voted for the first time in November 2008 after having lost, and then regained, their right to vote following a criminal conviction.
More information on our work to restore voting right to people with criminal histories.
Watch below (approximately 6 minutes).
Today marks the 44th anniversary of the landmark Voting Rights Act, passed to reverse the Jim Crow laws, which effectively denied African Americans the right to vote for decades.
The Act has accomplished great things. It eliminated poll taxes, literacy tests and other ballot box barriers. Within a few years of its passage, voter registration rates among African Americans doubled, tripled and in some states quadrupled.
Fast forward to the 2008 presidential election and its surge of African-American voter participation. Although the protections of the Act remain vital, according to one recent report, African-American women voters turned out at higher rates in November than any other racial, ethnic or gender group.
But one Jim Crow relic continues to elude the strong arms of the Voting Rights Act. Nationwide, 5.3 million American citizens are denied the right to vote because of a criminal conviction in their past. Four million are people who are out of prison, living in the community. Criminal disenfranchisement laws differ state-to-state. All told, 35 states continue to disenfranchise people released from prison.
Let's be clear, these laws were put in place right alongside poll taxes and literacy tests. In the late 1800s, as part of larger backlash against the adoption of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, criminal disenfranchisement laws spread throughout the country. At the same time, states expanded their criminal codes to punish offenses that they believed freed slaves were most likely to commit, including vagrancy, petty larceny and bigamy. This targeted criminalization and criminal disenfranchisement combined to produce the legal loss of voting rights, which effectively suppressed the power of African Americans for decades.
The laws' intended effects continue to this day. Nationwide, 13 percent of African-American men have lost the right to vote because of a criminal conviction. In eight states, more than 15 percent of African Americans cannot vote, and three of those states disenfranchise more than 20 percent of the African-American voting-age population. Given current rates of incarceration, 3 in 10 of the next generation of African-American men will lose the right to vote at some point in their lifetime.
Despite the clear evidence of discriminatory intent and impact, courts continue to uphold these laws, finding that Congress did not intend to prohibit criminal disenfranchisement when it passed the Voting Rights Act. Last week, the First Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest to issue such a ruling.
Luckily, we have three branches of government, and Congress now has the opportunity to declare loud and clear that it is time to consign these laws to the Jim Crow past. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI) have introduced the Democracy Restoration Act, a bill that seeks to restore voting rights in federal elections to all Americans who are out of prison, living in the community. The Democracy Restoration Act is the Voting Rights Act of the 21st Century. Congress should move quickly to end voting discrimination once and for all.
Originally at The Huffington Post
It turns out democracy breeds strange bedfellows. On Friday, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI) introduced the Democracy Restoration Act of 2009, a bill that seeks to restore voting rights in federal elections to nearly 4 million American citizens with past criminal convictions who are out of prison and living in the community. Who would have thought that police chiefs and former prison inmates would ever unite behind the same cause? But that's exactly what is happening. A large and growing coalition of diverse interests including law enforcement officers, religious leaders, civil rights organizations and millions of formerly incarcerated people across the country has come together to restore the right to vote. Now members of Congress have joined the crowd.
Nationwide, 5.3. million Americans are disenfranchised because of a criminal conviction in their past. Four million are people who are out of prison and living in the community -- working, paying taxes and raising families. All told, 35 states continue to disenfranchise people who are not in prison, often for decades and sometimes for life.
Make no mistake, criminal disenfranchisement laws are firmly rooted in Jim Crow. They were put in place right alongside poll taxes and literacy tests and were intended to keep African Americans from the polls. Many states passed criminal disenfranchisement laws at the end of Reconstruction and targeted crimes most likely to be committed by freed slaves like larceny, bigamy and vagrancy. Today the laws continue to have their intended effect: nationwide 13% of African-American men are disenfranchised. If current incarceration rates continue, 1 in 3 African-American men will lose the right to vote at some point in their lives.
Criminal disenfranchisement laws form a patchwork across the country. Consider for example, people in Kentucky lose the right to vote for life, while just across the border in Ohio and Indiana people can vote the day they step out of prison. Someone in Utah can vote as long as he is not in prison, while in Colorado he could vote while on probation but not on parole; in New Mexico he would have to complete both probation and parole, and in Arizona he could be disenfranchised for life. It is no wonder both election officials and the public are confused, resulting in widespread and persistent misinformation and the de facto disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of eligible voters across the country.
The shameful roots of these laws and the conflicting standards among the states are just two factors that highlight the need for federal reform. The Democracy Restoration Act provides just that: It would restore voting rights in federal elections to every American citizen who is out of prison, living in the community.
The foundation for the bill has been steadily building in the states. In the last decade, 20 states have restored voting rights or eased the restoration process. This groundswell has created a national chorus calling for change which now includes law enforcement and criminal justice professionals and a broad spectrum of religious leaders. These groups have come together based on a shared understanding that restoring voting rights to people in the community not only strengthens our democracy, it helps prevent recidivism, protects public safety and is true to the fundamental principles of redemption and forgiveness.
The importance of having a voice in the community is most aptly described by those who have found theirs. The recent Brennan Center publication My First Vote is a compilation of stories from Americans who voted for the first time in November 2008 after having lost, and then regained, their voting rights after a conviction. According to a mother in California who is featured in the collection, "voting isn't entirely about the candidate who wins; it's about the inspiration and hope people feel when they have a voice they can use to bring real change."
The Democracy Restoration Act has just been introduced, and it is still full of inspiration and hope. Congress should move quickly to make it the law of the land. Strange bedfellows agree.
CLARIFICATION: While the Rhode Island Restoration of Voting Rights Act (H.B. 7938) did become law while Governor Carcieri was in office,the law went into effect on July 7, 2006 without the Governor’s signature.
Last week, Wisconsin State Representative Tamara Grigsby and Senator Lena Taylor introduced the Wisconsin Democracy Restoration Act, a bill that seeks to restore voting rights to over 41,000 Wisconsin citizens who are out of prison, living in the community. The bill already has attracted attention, and support from one of Wisconsin's well-known conservative columnists, James Wigderson.
In his column on July 9, Wigderson,
a columnist for the Waukesha Freeman, discussed the importance of restoring the right
to vote to people on probation and parole. "We should encourage those
that have been released to take a responsible role in society, and granting
them the vote is an important part of that," wrote Wigderson. Wigderson,
whose articles have been cited as recommended reading on numerous conservative
sites, including Musings
of a Thoughtful Conservative
and Foxpoltics.net, has the ear of Wisconsin's most
conservative county: Waukesha County. Waukesha County is a Republican stronghold and Wigderson's support for the
Wisconsin bill brings an important voice into the conversation.
Support for voting rights restoration
from conservative allies is not new. There is a growing recognition
that felony disenfranchisement laws are contrary to our democratic ideals
and stymie successful reentry. Several recent
reforms that have
restored voting rights or eased the restoration process were approved
by Republican governors, including George W. Bush in Texas, Bobby Jindal
in Louisiana, Donald Carcieri in Rhode Island and Charlie Crist in Florida.
The late Jack Kemp, a Republican politician and self described "bleeding-heart
conservative," was an outspoken proponent of restoring voting rights.
Members of the law enforcement and faith communities are also increasingly speaking out against felony disenfranchisement based on their belief in our democracy, the recognition that denying the right to vote to those out of prison runs counter to the purpose of our criminal justice system and the fundamental principles of redemption and forgiveness. Tough-on-crime advocates like Miami Police Chief John F. Timoney and former Seattle Police Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske (now President Obama's drug czar) have advocated for restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions.
The coalition of groups and individuals working to restore voting rights in Wisconsin continues to broaden and diversify. We hope that James Wigderson's public stance on this issue will bear fruit, not only helping to pass the Wisconsin Democracy Restoration Act, but in continuing to build support among conservatives around the country who believe in the right to vote.CORRECTION: Governor Carcieri did not sign the Rhode Island Restoration of Voting Rights Act (H.B. 7938) into law. The law went into effect on July 7, 2006 without the Governor’s signature.
Much has been made this past week about a brief dissenting opinion by Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the 2006 Second Circuit decision in Hayden v. Pataki, a case that challenged New York's felony disenfranchisement law. Although most of the rhetoric has sought to make the issue of restoring voting rights to people who have been in prison seem like an extreme notion, that is simply not the case. In fact, there is a growing national consensus that criminal disenfranchisement laws are a relic of the past that only weaken our democracy and serve no legitimate law enforcement purpose.
Among other things, plaintiffs in Hayden argued that New York's policy of denying the right to vote to people who have been to prison disproportionately deprived African- American and Latino citizens of the right to vote in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Section 2 provides:
Cross-posted from the Hill's Congress Blog.
On Monday, Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed into law the Voting Rights Restoration Act, a new law that eliminates the requirement that people coming out of the criminal justice system pay all fees, fines and restitution, including hefty surcharges and accrued interest, before being allowed to vote. The right to vote in Washington will no longer hinge on one’s ability to pay. With this new law, Washington becomes the twentieth state in the last decade to ease voting restrictions on people with criminal histories who are out of prison and living in the community.
But there remain more than five million American citizens who are disenfranchised because of a criminal conviction in their past. Nearly four million of these citizens are out of prison—living in the community, working, raising families, and paying taxes alongside the rest of us but still denied the right to vote, often for decades and sometimes for life.
Monday marked the passing of a great partner in our work to restore voting rights to people who have come out of the criminal justice system. Jack Kemp, star football player, prominent Congressman, Cabinet Secretary and leader in the Republican Party, passed away Saturday night at the age of 73.
A self-described “bleeding-heart conservative,” Secretary Kemp dedicated much of his political career to fighting racial discrimination. His concern for racial justice and his deep religious beliefs made him an outspoken proponent for reforming felony disenfranchisement laws.
Last Friday, the New York State Senate Elections Committee held a hearing to discuss election reform bills currently before the Senate. Among the bills included was Senate Bill 1266, the Voting Rights Notification and Registration Act, sponsored by Senator Velmanette Montgomery. Similar bills have been passed by the Assembly twice before, but companion legislation has never before moved in the Senate. Friday's hearing was an important step forward.
Brennan Center research has shown widespread and persistent confusion around the country regarding voter eligibility rules for people with criminal histories. New York is certainly no exception. Senate Bill 1266 would help eliminate this confusion and would educate individuals about their voting rights.
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