Ohio
Related: About this forumDid Kasich slip another new voting restriction law under the radar?
My oldest son "stole" his truck from an impound lot after it was towed earlier this year. The charge was a 3rd degree felony, but he plea bargained down to a misdemeanor after the towing company expressed a desire to drop charges.
He was just notified that his voting privileges have been suspended because of a felony conviction. Of course it's a mix up in the courts, but since when did Ohio become one of the states that disallow felons from voting?
I know this is a recent change for Ohio. Did Kasich and his cohorts in the statehouse just find a new way to stop Democrats from casting a vote?
Does anyone here know anything about this?
On edit:
I looked it up, and the law in Ohio is one of the states where felons can vote after they're released. My son just got his letter today from the board of elections, so is this a brand new law this week?
appleannie1
(5,077 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,689 posts)...but my son just got his letter today from the board of elections that stated his voting privileges are suspended because of a conviction. I have to wonder if this is a brand new ruling to disenfranchise more Democrats in November.
He only became politically aware in the last 7 years or so, and was pretty upset that a stinking Republican would try to do this to him (and others). He didn't use the word "stinking" though.
rexcat
(3,622 posts)to a misdemeanor your son needs to get the final judgement from the court and present it to his Board of Elections (BOE). Even if it were a felony conviction and since he is not incarcerated he would have still had the right to vote. Sounds like there is a republican in the BOE trying to cause some problems but where I live, Warren County Ohio, we had a Democrat in charge of polling and he was a dick. The republican who replaced him is a little better but not by much.
Civil Rights of Convicted Felons: http://felonvoting.procon.org/sourcefiles/Ohio_Voting_Code_2961.01.pdf
This is from 2006: The Ohio Constitution expressly authorizes the Ohio General Assembly "to exclude from the privilege of voting, or of being eligible to office, any person convicted of a felony." 1 But the General Assembly has chosen to prohibit only incarcerated felons from voting; offenders on probation, paroled felons, and all ex-felons are permitted to vote, and the restoration of the franchise occurs automatically once a felon is paroled, pardoned, or granted judicial release. 2 By disenfranchising felons only while they are imprisoned, Ohio maintains one of the least restrictive felon disenfranchisement policies in the nation. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/ebook/part1/eligibility_felon01.html
FarPoint
(12,481 posts)Was it in a letter? I want to know who provided the notification. This in itself is criminal.
I want to know how many more registered voters have been told this lie and how long has this deception been going on?
JohnnyRingo
(18,689 posts)He told me that in Ohio citizenship is not restored until after all fines stemming from a felony conviction are paid. My son was originally charged with a felony, but eventually convicted of a misdemeanor, and still has some financial obligation pending. Apparently the error is with the county court for not reporting the updated circumstance instead of the election board that sent out the notice.
I wasn't aware of this stipulation in Ohio voting law, and assume it's probably a case of state economics instead of political partisanship. Still, it's quite convenient that this will exclude a large bloc of likely Democratic voters, so I don't know for sure.
Thank goodness they sent out the notice so he can fix it before November. If he'd gone to the polls and they told him there he wasn't eligible to vote, he may have added another charge. Like most of us, he's rather passionate about this particular election.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)My step-brother back in the 90's had his voting rights suspended. I know because he apologized to me about not being able to vote when I ran for Congress in 1992.