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Crist: Restore Voting Rights For FL Ex-Offenders | 5 comments (5 topical)

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I have never understood (none / 0) (#2)
by Maggie Mae on Tue Mar 06, 2007 at 11:04:22 AM EST
why ex-offenders can't vote.  PA used to disallow any felon from voting for five years after incarceration, but, finally, in 2000 that provision was found unconstitutional.

A search for Pennsylvania's qualifications for voting finds:

* The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled on December 26, 2000 that the Pennsylvania law prohibiting convicted felons from registering to vote for five years after their release from prison is unconstitutional. Consequently, if completing an older version of the Voter Registration Mail Application (VRMA) form, a convicted felon who has been released from prison may make application to register to vote by striking through the felony conviction line at Section 9(2) on the VRMA and signing his or her name.

[Please note that convicted felons who are incarcerated on the date of a primary or election are not eligible to vote, irrespective of whether they are registered.  However, pretrial detainees and misdemeanants are eligible to apply to register to vote and /or to vote by absentee ballot if they otherwise qualify to vote under law.]

Starting sometime in 2005, I believe, the PA legislature pushed and passed an onerous  bill  that not only required PA voters to show a valid, photo ID in order to vote, but also denied the voting rights of ex-felons who are serving probation or parole.  Luckily, Rendell vetoed it, citing the disenfranchisement of voters as his major objection.

Crist: Restore Voting Rights For FL Ex-Offenders | 5 comments (5 topical)

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