Montana: "Bill would reinstate right to vote for felons"

[cuchulainn]

http://www.billingsgazette.com/inde...03/01/30/build/wyoming/45-xgr-felons-vote.inc

from the Billings Gazette

Bill would reinstate right to vote for felons
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Convicted felons could have their voting rights restored under a bill recommended by a committee Wednesday.

Senate File 65 would allow felons convicted of nonviolent offenses to reapply to have their voting rights reinstated five years after completing probation or prison time. The Senate Judiciary committee supported the bill on a 4-1 vote.

Sen. Keith Goodenough, D-Casper, said one of the reasons he was sponsoring the bill is because felons, who are able to appeal to the governor to have their rights restored, were unlikely under former Gov. Jim Geringer's administration to succeed in getting the right to vote back.

He said the bill would set up a procedure allowing felons to apply to the parole board to have their voting rights reinstated as long as they had not been convicted of additional felonies.

Tom Throop of the government watchdog group the Equality State Policy Center said Wyoming is currently one of seven states that permanently denies felons the vote. None of the states bordering Wyoming permanently disenfranchise felons. He asked committee members to support the bill.

Goodenough said the bill sends a message to felons that "you've paid your penalties and now you're eligible to participate in government."

John Faunce, with the AFL-CIO, said his group believes re-enfranchising felons would help rehabilitate and reintegrate felons back into society after they have served their sentences.

The measure was also supported by Tim Solon, of the Wyoming Church Coalition, who told committee members laws taking away the right to vote were enacted after the Civil War to prohibit African-Americans from voting.

Also passed by the committee on a 3-2 vote was a bill changing the threshold for felony property offenses from $500 to $1,000.

Goodenough told committee members that a woman who was a victim of domestic violence received a felony conviction for driving her truck into the perpetrator's travel trailer, while he was only convicted of a misdemeanor for giving her two black eyes.

The committee laid a bill back that would establish a mechanism to restore firearm rights to those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. The committee asked the sponsor, Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, to rework the bill and bring it back to the committee Friday.

Case who is sponsoring the bill, said gun ownership is taken away from those guilty of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses by the Brady Bill, a federal law that toughened gun laws.

"I hope the committee doesn't think this is about excusing domestic violence," Case said. He told committee members that even those convicted of low levels of violence face a lifetime of consequences.

Copyright © 2003 Associated Press.

 

[Henry Bowman]

I wonder how many convicted felons even know that they aren't allowed to vote.

 

[DeltaElite]

Let em apply, the Democrats need all the votes they can get in Wyoming.

 

[NewShooter78]

Well as we have espoused in another thread about the difference in violen felony convictions and non-violent felony convictions, I think that restoring the right to vote to felons is the right thing to do. If they have done the time they were supposed to then they have paid their debt. How can you tax someone's income, yet not give them a voice in who represents them in elected office? That essentially equals a life sentence on certain levels, so they are always paying the price even after their prescribed sentence handed down by the court system.

 

[CZ-75]

How about expunging their records after a grace period as well?

Seems a lot of felons are recidivists, since having a record limits opportunities for work.

If you can stay clean after serving your punishment, then your rights should gradually be restored.

Non-violent felons only, though.

Sounds cost effective, since better work opportunities mean more taxable income and few prisons to build and maintain. Something's wrong when LE is a growth industry.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I remember when one community did an outreach to the county jail to register the inmates who could legally vote. They were hoping to affect politics but I don't think it went far. Somehow, when your constitutent gets tranferred from county jail to the state pen, the absentee ballot just doesn't seem to catch up or if it does, it's disqualified.

 

[tobeat1]

If you serve your time your debt should be paid in full to society. There is no reason to keep punishing someone after they get released for prison. If what they did deserves more than what they got we need to look at giving them more jail time or harsher penalties, not crippling them for life. I have a friend who got busted selling pot and now that he is out, been clean for over 15 years he still cannot get a decent job even with his degree because of his felony conviction. Tried on numerous occasions to get it expunged to no avail. I think we need to understand the mindset that this causes. It tells them that there is no point trying to reform there lives now because they are basically SOL.