Voting Rights Restoration
Over 160,000 Washingtonians cannot vote because of prior convictions. Support has been growing for ACLU-backed legislation to automatically restore the right to vote to individuals who have come out of the criminal justice system. For these citizens, voting is an important way to reconnect with the community. One study shows that former offenders who vote are 50% less likely to reoffend than those who don't vote.
Under the current system, people convicted of a felony and who have served their time still can't vote until they've paid all of their outstanding court fees and legal financial obligations. As a result, people of means can vote, but those with limited incomes cannot. The system also disproportionately affects communities of color: The disenfranchisement rate among African-Americans is five times that of the general population and roughly three times as high among Latinos. And the system for restoring voting rights is so convoluted that even elections officials have difficulty determining who is and is not eligible to vote.
We support legislation proposed by Rep. Jeannie Darneille and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles that automatically restores the right to vote to individuals once they have exited the criminal justice system. The legislation would not relieve anyone of the obligation to pay court-imposed fees and penalties—but that obligation would no longer be tied to the right to vote. The legislation would create the bright-line rule so badly need for voting rights restoration to be effective. In enacting this legislation, Washington would join a growing list of states, including Oregon, that have successfully implemented automatic restoration.
