Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Texas

Current felony disenfranchisement laws

A 1997 Texas law, signed by then Governor George Bush, restores voting rights to ex-offenders upon their completion of felony sentences.

Legal analysis and legislative advocacy

In 2005, activists in Texas sought to extend voting rights to probationers. Although the coalition favored direct re-enfranchisement, the chief legislative sponsor proposed permitting probationers to petition a court for restoration once they had served a third of their sentence. The Brennan Center then prepared a memorandum for the coalition and offered other advice on the procedural rules necessary to make such a judicial petitioning process at all usable.