Unlocking the Texas Vote

[Judi Lynn]

HOME: OCTOBER 22, 2004: NEWS: UNLOCKING THE TEXAS VOTE

Unlocking the Texas Vote
Election 2004

BY JORDAN SMITH

Since spring, volunteers with Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition have added 10,000 new voters to Texas' rolls through the Unlock Your Vote campaign, which seeks to register ex-felons to vote and to educate the public about felon disenfranchisement. Eva Owens, TCJRC director, said the campaign has been a success – the original goal was to register 5,000 voters. "We're very excited about the level of enthusiasm out there," she said. The majority of new Unlock voters registered in Bexar, Harris, and Dallas counties, she said.

Nationwide, nearly five million Americans who have been convicted of a felony, or who are currently on probation or parole, will be denied the right to vote this fall. Nearly two million are black, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and fully 13% of all voting-age black men are disenfranchised, according to a recent report from The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that focuses on reducing the nation's reliance on incarceration. Forty-eight states have laws prohibiting an incarcerated felon from voting (only Maine and Vermont allow them to vote).

In Texas, felons who are "on paper" – meaning incarcerated after a final adjudication of guilt or on parole or probation – are prohibited from voting, but freed ex-felons who have completed their sentences or the terms of their release are eligible to vote. Likewise, accused felons on indictment, even those who are in jail awaiting trial or adjudication, are eligible. Travis Co. Sheriff's Office spokesman Roger Wade said that the office has been providing information to eligible voters inside Travis Co. jails and so far has had 24 inmates request a ballot.

According to University of Minnesota sociology professor Christopher Uggen, the nation's leading expert on felon disenfranchisement, there are about 500,000 felons in Texas (3.4% of the state's voting-age population) who are unable to vote this year – including more than 160,000 prisoners and 200,000 felony probationers. Seven states, including Florida, forever ban ex-felons from voting – which has led to several high-stakes lawsuits currently pending in Florida courts. In Florida, felon disenfranchisement means that 10% of all black adults will be denied the right to vote.
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http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-10-22/pols_feature10.html