Lawsuit seeks to overturn Alabama's felon voting rights ban

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Lawsuit seeks to overturn Alabama's felon voting rights ban

Kim Chandler, Associated Press

Updated 5:43 pm, Monday, September 26, 2016

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal lawsuit is challenging Alabama's policy of stripping convicted felons' of their right to vote.

The Greater Birmingham Ministries and 10 Alabama residents who aren't allowed to vote because of a past felony conviction filed the lawsuit Monday in Montgomery federal court. They argue that the blanket ban is an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote, unfairly punishes people long after their sentences are complete and disproportionately impacts minority communities.

The lawsuit quotes 2014 statistics from the Sentencing Project that estimated more than 260,000 people were blocked from voting in Alabama. Nearly half were African-American.

The Alabama attorney general's office did not have an immediate comment. A spokesman for Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said the office has a policy of not commenting on ongoing litigation.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Lawsuit-seeks-to-overturn-Alabama-s-felon-voting-9289692.php

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. I don't get

How voting bans- for any reason/length of time-are constitutional to begin with

[Ohioblue22]

2. It's like a state creating laws that allow lead in your water then creating laws that prevent the

Lead poisoned city from suing the state