Restoring rights for felons a rare bipartisan voting change

LINCOLN, Neb. — T.J. King had candidates and causes to support, but couldn’t vote in Nebraska’s last election.

An outreach specialist with the Nebraska AIDS Project, King came off probation in August after serving time for drug and theft convictions. In many states, they could have voted in the November general election, but Nebraska requires a two-year wait after the completion of a felony sentence before someone can register.

King’s first chance to vote will be in the 2024 presidential election season — unless a legislative proposal introduced in January that would remove the two-year requirement passes and becomes law. That likely would change the timeline for the restoration of voting rights for King and thousands of other Nebraskans.

Rebecca S. Gratz

T.J. King, an outreach specialist with the Nebraska AIDS Project, works Feb. 23 in their office in Lincoln, Neb.

Voting, King said in an interview, gives “a little bit of your strength back and a little bit of your voice back. Being able to vote, being able to have a say in what happens in your society, in your state, is extremely important.”

Restoring the voting rights of former felons drew national attention after Florida lawmakers weakened a voter-approved constitutional amendment and after a new election police unit championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis arrested 20 former felons.

Several of them said they were confused by the arrests because they were allowed to register to vote.

At least 14 states have introduced proposals this year focused on restoration of voting rights, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. An Oregon proposal would allow felons to vote while incarcerated. A Tennessee bill would automatically restore voting rights once a sentence is completed, except for a small group of crimes. Texas legislation would restore voting rights to those on probation or parole.

In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill Friday restoring voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they get out of prison. A bill moving through the New Mexico Legislature would do the same.

“Restoring voting rights really is an issue where we’ve seen bipartisan momentum,” said Patrick Berry, counsel for the Democracy program at the Brennan Center.

More than 4.6 million people are disenfranchised in the United States because of felony convictions, according to the Sentencing Project, which studies the issue and advocates for restoration of voting rights for former felons.

Laws vary by state, based on pardon requirements, payment of fines, fees and child support, and when a sentence is considered complete.

The impacts fall disproportionately on people of color, especially Black citizens, who account for one-third of the total disenfranchised population while making up about 12% of the overall population.

In Nebraska, almost 18,000 people are unable to vote because of felony convictions, said the Sentencing Project’s director of advocacy, Nicole Porter.

Steve Smith of Civic Nebraska, part of a large coalition of groups supporting the measure, said the wait creates a group of taxpayers who can’t choose their representatives.

“You’re civically dead and you can’t vote for the people who are levying those taxes,” he said.

The bill that would eliminate the wait would alter a 2005 law. Before then, felonies in Nebraska brought a lifetime voting ban in most cases.

The bill’s author, Democratic state Sen. Justin Wayne, said he was going door to door in his first election in 2016 and would-be constituents told him they couldn’t vote. Much of the reason was confusion over the law’s waiting period, he said.

Rebecca S. Gratz, Associated Press

Nebraska state Sen. Justin Wayne speaks Feb. 22 on behalf of LB20, a bill he introduced to provide restoration of voting rights upon completion of a felony sentence or probation for a felony, at the Nebraska state Capitol in Lincoln, Neb.

He introduced bills multiple times to do away with the wait period, coming close to success in 2017 when a bill passed the Legislature but was vetoed by then-Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Wayne, who represents parts of Omaha with strong minority populations, said reconnecting people to the voting process is integral to successful reentry. His bill advanced last week from a committee to the full Legislature.

“When people get out of our system, they’ve got to feel engaged in their community, and the number one way for a person to feel engaged in their community is to be able to vote for the leadership of that community,” he said.

Rebecca S. Gratz, Associated Press

Nebraska state Sen. Justin Wayne, center, speaks Feb. 22 on behalf of LB20, a bill he introduced to provide restoration of voting rights upon completion of a felony sentence or probation for a felony, at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb.

King, 51, fought addiction for years and spent five years in prison after being convicted of possessing the party drug Ecstasy and theft by deception, ending probation last August.

King works in the HIV/AIDS field and volunteers at various organizations, but said voting is still the most direct way to be involved and became tearful when talking about being unable to vote.

“I felt so hopeless and helpless not being able to have my voice heard in this last election,” King said. “There are a lot of things that were on the ballot here in Nebraska that hit home with a lot of things that I advocate for.”