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    mrs juice190's Avatar
    mrs juice190 Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Aug 29, 2008, 08:13 PM
    Voting rights
    I would like to know if a person has been out of prison for 16 yrs now.Off parole has no fees or fines due. Can they vote in the election. Really would like to know.
    mrs juice190's Avatar
    mrs juice190 Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #2

    Aug 29, 2008, 08:15 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by mrs juice190
    I would like to know if a person has been out of prison for 16 yrs now.Off parole has no fees or fines due. Can they vote in the election. Really would like to know.
    Can a excon vote in the state of Mississippi.
    JudyKayTee's Avatar
    JudyKayTee Posts: 46,503, Reputation: 4600
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    #3

    Aug 30, 2008, 12:54 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by mrs juice190
    I would like to know if a person has been out of prison for 16 yrs now.Off parole has no fees or fines due. Can they vote in the election. Really would like to know.


    Felony conviction? Misdemeanor conviction?

    Long answer from the Internet re: felons:

    Directly from the Internet:

    Although some felons have been legally disenfranchised, others have not. Specifically, while only four states allow felons to vote while they are in prison, 18 allow felons to vote while they are on parole and 21 allow them to vote while on probation. Only 10 states permanently disenfranchise all felons and another handful do so to some ex-offenders or restore the ability to vote after a time limit.

    The simple answer to your question is that felons can't vote is because voting is a civil right and you forfeit certain rights, temporarily anyway, when convicted of a serious crime. But the full story, as always, is more complex. Pull up a chair and light a cigar.
    The guiding case law currently is Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24 (1974). In that case, a majority of the Supreme Court found that the 14th Amendment gives the states clear permission to deny the vote to felons. The second part of the amendment essentially reduced a state's representation in Congress if the state has denied the right to vote to otherwise eligible citizens for any reason "except for participation in rebellion, or other crime." William Rehnquist, then a green associate justice, wrote for the majority that this language (and the accompanying legislative history) made it clear that the states may abridge the rights of those convicted of "other crimes." Given your point about black males' voting rights, it is interesting to note that one purpose of the 14th Amendment was to encourage states to extend voting rights to newly-freed slaves. If you ever write a song about irony, you'll want a list of words that rhyme with Ramirez.

    In Hunter v. Underwood, 471 U.S. 222 (1985), the court found that the right to disenfranchise felons was not absolute. Specifically, the court found that a disenfranchisement law reflecting "purposeful racial discrimination" was not constitutional. So if one could show that the pattern of convictions of blacks vs. whites in the war on drugs or otherwise showed "purposeful racial discrimination," one might be able to get Wild Bill and the Supremes to reconsider. When you go to argue the case, be sure to point out that states with tough anti-felon laws tend to be located in the South and that a lot of these laws were beefed up around the turn of the century to include crimes thought to be more commonly committed by blacks. But you probably won't win. Your better bet is to get a change to the laws of your state. Good luck--not a lot of legislators want to put "I'll give felons more rights!" on their campaign posters.

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