State approaches to disenfranchising felons vary widely. For example, in Maine and Vermont, felons never lose their right to vote, even while they are incarcerated.
California automatically restores voting rights once the sentence has been completed. However, Governor Jerry Brown has taken felon voting rights for some inmates to a whole, new level.
Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed to restore the voting rights of convicted felons serving time in county jails.The bill that Brown announced signing Wednesday also reinstates the voting eligibility of felons on probation or under community supervision beginning next year. It does not affect those in state or federal prisons.AB2466 stems from California’s criminal justice realignment, which led to some people convicted of low-level felonies serving time in county jails.
One of our state’s representatives lays out the drawbacks of this approach:
Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) criticized the approval of the legislation, which takes effect Jan. 1.Bates said the new law will undermine the integrity of elections by allowing people in jail to decide close contest.“It is very disappointing that felons still serving their sentences behind bars will now be able to vote since Governor Brown failed to veto this really bad bill,” Bates said in a statement.
However, there is one positive that someone can cull from Bate’s statement: Few elections are likely to be close. Democrats and their policies dominate the Golden State.
But it must be noted this isn’t the only perplexing vote-related rule that the Governor just approved. Californians will now have the ability to legally hand off sealed ballots to anyone to mail or deliver in person.
…Assembly Bill 1921, written by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), removes language in state election law that limits the delivery of a voter’s ballot to close family or household members.It also repeals, starting in local elections in 2017 and the next statewide election in 2018, the current ban on a volunteer campaign worker from gathering as many ballots as possible from voters for delivery to elections officials. The only restriction is that a campaign official cannot be paid to gather and deliver ballots.While other states also have more liberal laws on who can deliver a voter’s ballot, those states usually place a limit on how many ballots can be delivered by a single person. The law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown places no such restrictions.
The potential for voter fraud is staggering.
Next, I am sure that one of our legislators will propose making it legal for the dead to vote…like they do in Virginia.
I am sure Brown will sign that one, too. Perhaps the signing ceremony will be Halloween?
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