James Valley's Journal: Fw: [flowerslawsociety] Ex-Felons Voting Rights

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Fw: [flowerslawsociety] Ex-Felons Voting Rights

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

From: "Frazier Bridgette" <bridgette@arkleg.state.ar.us>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:55:10 -0500
To: <flowerslawsociety@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [flowerslawsociety] Ex-Felons Voting Rights

And here is Arkansas' law:

Can convicted felons vote?

Yes. Under Amendment 51 of the Constitution of the State of Arkansas convicted felons can eventually have their voting rights restored. To become eligible to have their voting rights restored, convicted felons must have satisfied all terms of imprisonment, be discharged from probation or parole and have paid all applicable fines, court costs, restitution, etc. Once they have completely “paid their debt to society” convicted felons are eligible to vote. It is required for such a person to provide proof to the County Clerk that all of the above requirements have been met before their voter application is approved.

I don't care if we aren't considered a battleground state, or McCain is so certain of a victory here that he moved his campaign staffers to Pennsylvania -- Every vote still counts!

I think we should all find 5 people who are not registered, and help them register to vote. The last day to register new voters is October 6th!

Call or email all of your friends and family -- especially those in the battle ground states -- and make sure they are properly registered.

Bridgette

-----Original Message-----
From: flowerslawsociety@yahoogroups.com [mailto:flowerslawsociety@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Andree Roaf
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 06:43 PM
To: Flowers Law Society
Subject: [flowerslawsociety] Ex-Felons Voting Rights

In search of an answer to a question from a friend, learned from BOEE that ex-felons in the District of Columbia can register to vote (voting for the General Election closes October 6) once they have served their debt to society. Here is the link to an article that shares the different policies by states as well as a summary of some numbers in the U.S. in case you are asked the question.
http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1428825&nid=695
Here are the numbers of felons in and out of prison, who cannot vote*:

District of Columbia: 7,407 Total; 7,040 are African American
Maryland: 111,521 Total; 64,403 are African American
Virginia: 377,847 Total; 208,343 are African American
In the U.S.: 5,266,207 Total; 2,000,290 are African American

* Source: The Sentencing Project
(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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