Alabama governor to sign law giving thousands of felons their right to vote back

[babylonsister]

https://thinkprogress.org/alabama-voting-restoration-86d82cc1c2d0

Kira Lerner
Political Reporter at ThinkProgress.
May 24
Alabama governor to sign law giving thousands of felons their right to vote back
The state has been relying on a century-old, white supremacist phrase to disenfranchise felons.

snip//

As it turned out, Alabama had been disenfranchising felons using a century-old, discriminatory provision which states that “no person convicted of a felony of moral turpitude” should be permitted to vote. But the state had never officially defined what constituted such a crime, leaving it up to individual registrars to make that decision themselves.

Glasgow’s drug charge, he learned, was not necessarily a crime of “moral turpitude,” so he and thousands of other Alabama citizens had been wrongfully turned away from the polls for decades. After realizing the scope of the problem, Glasgow became one of the most prominent faces in the fight to get the state to explain what the vague phrase means.

This week, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) is expected to sign a bill which will do just that. Under the Definition of Moral Turpitude Act, which passed both chambers of the legislature with bipartisan support, less than 50 specific felonies will justify disenfranchisement. Thousands of people are expected to have their rights restored.

snip//

“It took a long time to get this done but its proof that it can be done, and we need it done everywhere,” he said.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Gov. Ivey’s office told ThinkProgress late Thursday that she has signed the Definition of Moral Turpitude Act, extending the right to vote to potentially thousands of felons.

[yallerdawg]

1. The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates...

"15% of Alabama's population can't vote because of felony record."

"The SPLC points out the majority of Alabamians with a felony record are African American and there are very few white-collar crimes on this list so no fraud or public corruption charges listed. While this is a step forward, Farley says there's still work to be done when addressing voting rights."

"But Secretary of State John Merrill (R) disagrees."

“That's like when people tell me that there's thousands and thousands of people being disenfranchised by the photo ID component which that's not true and it's not true that there's thousands and thousands of people that are going to be affected by this legislation,” said Merrill."

http://www.wsfa.com/story/35512463/new-law-clears-up-voting-confusion-for-alabamians-with-a-felony

[House of Roberts]

2. Too many good white Christian Meth Lab operators

had lost their right to vote Republican?
(See the documentary Meth Mountain on A&E for more)

[Bettie]

3. I'll give credit where it is due

and say this is a good thing.

I'm glad she's signing it.

[Bucky]

4. But to qualify, they have to hold up this paper bag?

Keep an eye on this. I have about zero faith that the law will be applied impartially