LDF Win Restores Voting Rights to Ex-Felons in Alabama
Feature Story by Andrew Post - September 13, 2006
When Americans head to the polls this fall they will be joined by a brand new group of voters - ex-felons.
On August 23rd, in
Gooden v. Worley, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) scored a crucial voting rights victory when a circuit court judge ruled that officials in Alabama violated the state's constitution by denying eligible ex-felons their right to vote. With the new ruling, people convicted of lesser felonies can no longer be denied this fundamental right.
The LDF convinced Circuit Judge Robert Vance Jr. that Alabama officials overstepped their authority when they expanded the rhetoric of the Alabama state constitution to deny voting rights to eligible and ineligible voters alike. "This victory strengthens the integrity of Alabama's democratic process," said LDF Assistant Counsel Ryan Paul Haygood.
"The court's decision is a monumental restoration of the voting rights guaranteed by the Voting Rights Act. State officials may no longer disguise discriminatory attempts at barring voters by imposing a uniform and unconstitutional rule that works to the detriment of minority voters. This is a win for all voters in Alabama, and democracy everywhere," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR).
Some advocates for change, including the United Nations Human Rights Committee, believe it is time for other states to follow suit.
In recommendations released July 28, the committee charged that, "The U.S. should adopt appropriate measures to ensure that states restore voting rights to citizens who have fully served their sentences and to those who have been released on parole." It argued that disenfranchisement policies like the one struck down in
Gooden v. Worley are both discriminatory and in violation of international law because they disproportionately impact the rights of minorities.
Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 enfranchised minorities, advocates have considered the disenfranchisement of ex-felons the last real barrier to voting rights for all Americans.
In
Gooden v. Worley, the LDF argued that state officials acted unconstitutionally by extending the law to bar all ex-felons from voting without giving proper consideration to the nature of the crime committed. Alabama's constitution only bars people from voting if they are convicted of felonies involving "moral turpitude".
This clause, which is the subject of much debate, was added to draw the line between lesser felonies and more egregious ones. The court's decision in
Gooden v. Worley restores the meaning of the state's constitution by giving ex-felons whose convictions did not involve "moral turpitude" the right to vote.
