Gregoire OKs bill to ease restoring felon rights

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By RACHEL LA CORTE Associated Press Writer

Summary

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill Monday that eases the restoration of voting rights for felons who are no longer in Washington state custody but owe court-ordered fines and restitution. It takes effect July 26. "We have come to understand we can't create a debtor's prison here," Gregoire said.

Story Published: May 4, 2009 at 6:57 PM PST

Gregoire OKs bill to ease restoring felon rights
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Starting this summer, convicted felons will be able to reregister to vote once they're no longer on parole or probation.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill Monday that eases the restoration of voting rights for felons who are no longer in Washington state custody but owe court-ordered fines and restitution. It takes effect July 26.

"We have come to understand we can't create a debtor's prison here," Gregoire said.

Under current law, felons can't vote until they have completed their entire sentence, including paying all restitution and other court fees.

The new law removes the requirement that felons must pay off all those debts before their rights are restored. However, under the new law, voting rights could be revoked if a felon willingly fails to make regular payments on those financial obligations.

Rep. Jeannie Darneille, the Tacoma Democrat who sponsored the measure, said the new law will "help someone who's been an ex-offender to reintegrate fully into society."

Washington's neighbor, Oregon, automatically restores voting rights to felons once they're released from prison. Nearly 40 other states and the District of Columbia also have less onerous restrictions on restoring voting rights to felons.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, the state's top elections officer, publicly supported the bill, saying it could foster greater civic engagement and would help reduce the bureaucratic challenges in determining who is a legal voter.

The state's voter database is able to track people who are currently in prison, or who are still under supervision by the state Department of Corrections. More than 12,000 felons have been removed from the rolls since the database went online in 2006. But people who haven't yet had their rights restored, often because of unpaid court-ordered fines, are harder to track.

It is unclear exactly how many people previously convicted of felonies are barred from voting in Washington solely because they haven't paid their fines. A 2002 estimate calculated the figure at more than 46,000 people, but state elections officials say the actual number is impossible to know, because there's no list of people who are no longer in the DOC system, but still owe legal financial obligations.

"The public in the state of Washington should have trust and confidence in the integrity of their voting system, and this bill is going to help accomplish that," Reed said. "I think this is really going to help us clean up our voter rolls."

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The restoration of voting rights measure is House Bill 1517.