AP: Mississippi is violating the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment by permanently stripping voting rights from people convicted of some felonies, a federal appeals court panel ruled in a split decision Friday. Two judges on the 5th… Continue reading

Bolts: “At issue is an executive order Democratic Governor Andy Beshear issued in 2019, on his third day in office, that has restored the voting rights of at least about 180,000 people, or five percent of Kentucky’s adult… Continue reading

AP: Tennessee has begun requiring felons who want their voting rights back to first get their full citizenship rights restored by a judge or show they were pardoned. Election officials say the step is required after a June court… Continue reading

WaPo: Several advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging a Virginia law that automatically stripped the right to vote from more than 300,000 convicted felons is an illegal vestige of historical efforts to keep Black residents from casting ballots.… Continue reading

NPR offers a reminder that Florida has said that individuals with past convictions can’t vote until they pay off all associated fines and fees, and has been increasingly aggressive about prosecuting missteps … but still has no single system for… Continue reading

I’d missed this new research on recidivism rates from the Sentencing Project.

News & Observer on a third election-related ruling coming out of the North Carolina Supreme Court today: Thousands of formerly incarcerated North Carolina residents serving felony sentences will no longer be able to vote. A trial court ruling had made… Continue reading