The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

LEGISLATION

Two states – Nebraska and Iowa – enacted significant reforms to their disenfranchisement practices. In Nebraska, longstanding efforts led by State Senator DiAnna Schimek were aided by a state task force’s recommendation to remove the lifetime ban on people with felony convictions. As a result, the legislature voted – and then overturned a gubernatorial veto – to repeal the ban and replace it with a two-year post-sentence restriction on the right to vote. In Iowa, Governor Tom Vilsack took the courageous step of issuing an executive order on July 4th to automatically reinstate voting rights for all people who had completed a sentence, thus adding an estimated 50,000 people as potential voters. At the federal level, the Count Every Vote Act of 2005 introduced by Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer contains a provision that would permit voting by non-incarcerated people in federal elections even if they are barred from voting in state elections. A companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

LITIGATION

Progress in the courts during the year was mixed. Despite documentation of a compelling history of racial dynamics in Florida’s disenfranchisement practices, the longstanding case of Johnson v. Bush challenging the state’s lifetime voting ban was decided in favor of the state in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the plaintiff’s request for cert review by the U.S. Supreme Court was denied in November. In the Second Circuit, the cases of Hayden v. Pataki and Muntaqim v. Coombe were consolidated, and an en banc hearing was held in June as a result of the plaintiffs’ appeal from an earlier judgment of dismissal by the lower court; the plaintiffs are still awaiting a ruling. There was good news in Washington state, where trial is now scheduled to begin in March 2006 in the case of Farrakhan v. Locke, following a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the plaintiffs may introduce evidence of unwarranted racial disparities in the criminal justice system that contribute to disproportionate rates of disenfranchisement.

In state based litigation, the case of NAACP v. Harvey, which challenges New Jersey’s disenfranchisement of persons on probation and parole, is currently awaiting appeal to the state Supreme Court from a lower court ruling against the plaintiffs. New litigation was filed this year by the ACLU of Colorado which challenges the state’s statutory ban on voting while on parole as violating the state Constitution, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is supporting the voting rights of citizens in Alabama who have not been convicted of a crime of "moral turpitude," as defined by an Attorney General's opinion.

STATE-BASED ADVOCACY

State and local advocates nationwide continued to creatively expand their outreach efforts, aided by the national Right to Vote Campaign’s technical and networking support. The Florida Coalition for Restoration of Voting Rights gained high level Republican support for its legislative goals, assessed the prospects for a constitutional amendment in the coming years, and continued its aggressive advocacy in use of the gubernatorial clemency process. In Rhode Island, a growing campaign has led to a ballot initiative for November 2006 that will ask voters to end the state’s prohibition on voting for persons on probation or parole. Advocates in New Jersey, Tennessee, Kentucky, Minnesota and other states have been engaged in legislative and policy efforts regarding restrictions on voting for various categories of people under supervision, and a concerted coalition effort in Pennsylvania was able to defeat a measure to prohibit voting while on parole. Successful campaigns to expand the number of registered voters have been launched in Alabama, New York, Colorado, Oregon, and Texas, and a coalition has come together to encourage outgoing Virginia Governor Mark Warner to sign an executive order restoring voting rights to people who have completed their sentences.

RESEARCH

New research continues to inform the national debate and to provide tools for organizing. Alec Ewald’s A 'Crazy-Quilt' of Tiny Pieces documented how state and local election officials routinely misinterpret felon disenfranchisement legal provisions and The Sentencing Project’s Barred for Life found that few people have successfully regained their voting rights through executive action in permanent disenfranchisement states. Voting While Incarcerated, produced by the ACLU and the Right To Vote campaign, provides a road map for gaining access to local jails for the purpose of disseminating registration materials and absentee ballots to eligible voters. And Margaret Love’s state-based guide to relief from the consequences of a felony conviction provides a comprehensive overview of the complex laws that govern these practices.
The burgeoning scholarship on disenfranchisement will continue in early 2006, with the publication of three new books on disenfranchisement. Jeff Manza’s and Christopher Uggen’s book, Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy (Oxford University Press) brings together these researchers' important data and political analysis to examine the impact of disenfranchisement on democratic life. The Disenfranchisement of Ex- Felons (Temple University Press) by Elizabeth Hull provides a historical and political examination of these policies, and Sasha Abramsky’s Conned (The New Press) looks at local organizing work that is challenging restrictive practices around the country.

MEDIA/POLICYMAKER SUPPORT

High-level national media and editorial support continued throughout the year. Columnist Derrick Jackson in the Boston Globe asked “Where are voting rights for ex-felons?”, while The New York Times called for “Extending Democracy to Ex-Offenders” and the Christian Science Monitor supported “Voting Rights for Ex- Felons.” The prestigious Commission on Federal Election Reform co-chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker joined with other bodies in issuing a recommendation calling for the “Re- Enfranchisement of Ex-Felons,” as did former Republican vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp in a recent Congressional hearing.

INTERNATIONAL

Looking abroad, a historic decision by the European Court of Human Rights struck down a blanket restriction on the right to vote while in prison in the United Kingdom. As a follow-up to the decision, the government in Ireland has just introduced a measure to facilitate absentee voting among incarcerated people.