Judge says ex-cons under supervision have the right to vote
Source: LA Times
An Alameda County judge has ruled that Secretary of State Debra Bowen erred when she told California election officials to forbid some 42,000 former prisoners and other felons from registering to vote.
Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo's decision Wednesday likely comes too late to permit former state inmates and others put under community supervision because of the state's prison overcrowding to register in time to vote in the state's primary elections.
The deadline to register for that election is May 19, and Grillo has given Bowen and civil rights lawyers for former inmates until late May to come up with a remedy. He'll hold his own hearing on those solutions June 4, the day after the primary.
The case centers on Gov. Jerry Brown's decision in 2011 to make room in the state's crowded prisons by creating new classes of offenders -- low-level felons who serve their sentences in county jail instead of state prison and felons released from prison who are supervised by county probation departments instead of state parole agents.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-ff-judge-says-excons-under-supervision-have-right-to-vote-20140507-story.html
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I mean, what's the worst that can happen? 
That was the Common Law Rule, but most states eliminated the lost of rights when prison became the first choice of punishment for a felony, as opposed to being sentence to death.
On the other hand, many states retained who lost the right to vote. Furthermore, most states forbid prisoners, while they are in prison from voting. Mostly to make sure the local areas is not dominated by the voters in the prison, as oppose to the local residents.
http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000286
In Maine and Vermont, a Convicted Felon vote while in Prison. They are the only states to permit CONVICTED FELONS voting while in prison.
13 states restrict Convicted Felons from voting only while in prison. Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah AND the District of Columbia (total 14, but only 13 States).
Four states, California, Colorado, Connecticut and New York forbid Convicted Felons while in prison OR ON PAROLE to vote.
20 States, forbid voting while in prison, on parole OR on probation.
11 States forbid voting by anyone convicted of a felony. This includes, Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming. Please except for Virginia and Kentucky many ex felons can vote in these states, which ex felon can vote or not vote is determined by each state. Virginia and Kentucky forbids ALL felons from voting.
As to Misdemeanors:
Kentucky and Missouri additionally require an executive pardon before allowing people convicted of certain misdemeanors ("high misdemeanors” in KY and "elections-related misdemeanors” in MO) from ever voting again.
In Iowa, only persons convicted of an "aggravated" misdemeanor cannot vote while incarcerated.
In West Virginia only persons convicted of certain elections-related misdemeanors cannot vote while incarcerated - all others may vote by absentee ballot.
In the District of Columbia certain election, lobbying, and campaign finance-related crimes (that may be misdemeanors) are defined as felonies for the purpose of disenfranchisement under section 1-1001.02(7) of its code - all others with a misdemeanor conviction may vote by absentee ballot while incarcerated.
Individuals in the remaining 40 states may vote by absentee ballot while incarcerated for any misdemeanor.
The "Remaining states" is only 38 states, if you count Iowa, and West Virginia as having restrictions on people who have committed misdemeanors.
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/02/holder-wants-to-return-right-to-vote-to.html
