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-- Special Edition on Voting Rights --

National ACLU News

ACLU Voting Rights Project

The ACLU of Alabama is currently collaborating with the Voting Rights Project on a lawsuit challenging Alabama’s disenfranchisement of those with felony convictions. READ MORE BELOW…

Established in 1965, the ACLU Voting Rights Project has worked to protect the gains in political participation won by racial and non-English speaking minorities since passage of the historic Voting Rights Act (VRA) that same year. Since its inception, the Voting Rights Project has aggressively and successfully challenged efforts that dilute minority voting strength or obstruct the ability of minority communities to elect candidates of their choice. The Project has filed more than 300 lawsuits to enforce the provisions of the VRA and the U.S. Constitution.

ACLU of Alabama News

ACLU-AL Files Suit Over Voter Disenfranchisement

On Monday, July 21, the ACLU and ACLU of Alabama filed a new lawsuit against election officials over the state’s unconstitutional voter disenfranchisement practices. Approximately 250,000 Alabamians have lost the right to vote because of a felony conviction — that’s one in 14 people in the state.

Alabama disenfranchises people with felony convictions involving “moral turpitude.” According to the state constitution, only the legislature can determine what crimes fit into this undefined and antiquated-sounding category. However, Attorney General Troy King created his own broader list of disqualifying felonies in 2005. The AG’s list included several nonviolent offenses, including forgery.

To make matters worse, election administrators across Alabama are currently disqualifying citizens from voting for felony convictions that neither the legislature nor the attorney general has ever listed as disenfranchising offenses.

Check out the excellent New York Times story on the case that features ACLU Voting Rights Project Director Laughlin McDonald and one of our clients, Annette McWashington Pruitt, who was disenfranchised because of a 2003 conviction for receiving stolen property, an offense not on the legislature’s list of moral turpitude felonies. She said in our press release:

“I have voted many times before. My father taught me this is what every American should do. But when I tried to register a few weeks ago I was told I couldn’t. My youngest son just turned 18 and is going into the Navy. I have another son in Iraq right now. Voting is really my duty because it represents the freedom my sons are protecting overseas.”

This shameful policy has no place in a functioning democracy. We are hopeful that the court will recognize the fundamental rights of these citizens before the November elections.