Academic

Alabama Felon Disenfranchisement Update: Improper Voter Purges And Prisoner Vote Suppression

By Dan Filler

According to a news story in the Huntsville Times yesterday, the state has been improperly (and thus, presumably, illegally) striking registered voters from the voting rolls.

State court administrators say eligible voters across Alabama are wrongly being denied the right to vote because of a legal opinion by Gov. Bob Riley's office concerning felony records.The Administrative Office of Courts said Wednesday that, based on information provided by Riley's legal aides, people have been stricken from voter rolls and refused registration when they are actually eligible to cast ballots.

The office blamed the problem on a mistake by Riley's office in listing which criminal convictions disqualify residents from voting or registering to vote.Riley's office denied doing anything wrong and said the opinion at the heart of the dispute was correct. Court administrators said the practice went on for months, but the number affected wasn't known.

Meanwhile, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund has filed suit to allow a Dothan minister to conduct a voter registration drive in the Alabama prisons. 

No point in editorializing but as I've suggested, issues around felon enfranchisement and disenfranchisement are likely to recur as we approach November.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on October 02, 2008 (boomark / email).