Category Archives: felon voting

Pa. ends ‘prison gerrymandering’ with closely divided committee vote

August 24, 2021, 12:10 pmfelon voting, redistricting, votingTabatha Abu El-Haj

From WHYY in Philadelphia: “The commission in charge of redrawing Pennsylvania’s House and Senate maps has voted 3-2 to make a major change to the redistricting process: It will no longer count many state prisoners as residents of the districts… Continue reading

“NC court grants voting rights to thousands of people on probation or parole for a felony”

August 23, 2021, 2:48 pmfelon votingRick Hasen

News and Observer: Judges have restored voting rights to an estimated 55,000 North Carolinians on parole or probation for a felony.GOP state lawmakers, who were defending the law in court, plan to appeal Monday’s ruling to a higher court.… Continue reading

Bernie Grofman: “How Best to do Prison Population Data Reallocation, i.e., How Best to Mitigate Prison Gerrymandering?”

August 16, 2021, 7:16 pmfelon votingRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from my UCI colleague Bernie Grofman: There are now eleven states that committed to using data on past home addresses of prisoners and locating them for redistricting purposes not in the prison but… Continue reading

“One Year After Executive Order Restored Voting Rights To Iowans With Felony Convictions, Most Haven’t Registered To Vote”

August 5, 2021, 2:16 pmfelon voting, voter registration, votingDerek Muller

Katarina Sostaric at Iowa Public Radio: One year after Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order restoring voting rights to an estimated 35,000 to 45,000 Iowans with past felony convictions, about 5,000 of the newly eligible individuals have… Continue reading

“A Texas man was arrested on charges that he voted in the 2020 Democratic primary while on parole. He could face as much as 20 years in prison”

July 11, 2021, 6:50 amfelon votingDan Tokaji

WaPo: Hervis Rogers was so intent on casting a ballot in last year’s presidential primary that he waited six hours to vote, catching the attention of a CNN news crew when he became the last person to do so… Continue reading

New essay alert: “In Whom is the Right of Suffrage?”

July 6, 2021, 8:15 amelection law and constitutional law, felon voting, votingFranita Tolson

This is my first blog post on ELB, and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the revamp. I am a devout reader of the blog and very much appreciate the hard work that Rick has put… Continue reading

“Bill restores voting rights to Washingtonians with felonies upon release from prison”

April 8, 2021, 7:21 amfelon votingRick Hasen

Seattle Times: As Americans last year debated the elections, Victor Sauceda endured tough conversations with friends and others talking about their votes.Sauceda, 31, was released from prison in October 2019, he said, after serving time for felony convictions — meaning… Continue reading

“He Fought For Voting Rights In Georgia, Then He Was Locked Up”

October 24, 2020, 3:31 pmfelon votingRick Hasen

Johnny Kauffman for WABE: Tariq Baiyina has lobbied politicians, shaken hands with governors, set up a college program, and delivered dozens of sermons. Despite all this, the 42-year-old has never voted. And the reason is simple: since 2002, when he… Continue reading

“In last-minute push, DeSantis administration urges Florida election officials to remove felons who owe fines from voting rolls”

October 20, 2020, 11:37 amfelon votingRick Hasen

WaPo: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration delivered last-minute guidance to local election officials recommending measures that voting-rights advocates say could intimidate or confuse voters, the latest salvo in a pitched battle over who is able to cast ballots in… Continue reading

“Free Our Vote: Using Data Activism and Crowdsourcing to Restore Voting Rights for Former Felons in Florida”

October 20, 2020, 6:56 amfelon votingRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Neel U. Sukhatme, Associate Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, and Co-Founder, Free Our Vote: As readers of this blog might know, nearly 65% of voters in Florida supported a ballot initiative… Continue reading

A Florida purge of supposed felons just before the election….where have I heard this before?

October 16, 2020, 4:42 pmfelon votingRick Hasen

CNN: Election officials in Florida are taking steps to remove ex-felons from the voter rolls if they still owe court debts, according to an email sent this week to county elections officials obtained by CNN.The state’s elections director, Maria… Continue reading

“Statement on Florida Officials’ Plans to Remove People with Past Convictions from Florida’s Voter Roll”

October 16, 2020, 11:40 amfelon votingRick Hasen

Via email: With less than 18 days until the 2020 General Election, the Florida Division of Elections made plans to remove returning citizens who owe legal financial obligations from Florida’s voter roll in direct violation of Florida’s 30-day notice period.… Continue reading

“What happened to Florida’s Amendment 4? Five takeaways from our investigation”

October 12, 2020, 8:12 pmfelon votingRick Hasen

Tampa Bay Times: A few months ago, we and ProPublica wanted to answer a question: How many people with felony convictions have registered to vote under Amendment 4?Passed by nearly two-thirds of voters in 2018, the amendment was supposed to… Continue reading

“Why is Florida screaming about the pay-to-vote system it created?”

October 1, 2020, 3:16 pmfelon votingRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for The Hill.

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