Right to Vote Restored to 55,000 Paroled Felons

By THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS MINNEAPOLIS

On March 3rd Governor Tim Walz signed into law legislation that restores the vote to more than 55,000 formerly incarcerated Minnesotans. In the largest expansion of voting since 18-year-olds won the right to vote in 1972, Minnesota joins 22 other states to give felons their voting rights, once they have completed their prison term. Previously anyone serving on probation or parole had to finish that extended sentence before voting rights were restored. Walz called this “a good day for democracy. We’re a country of second chances…and the idea of not allowing those voices to have a say in the very governing of the communities they live in is simply unacceptable.”
After two decades of advocacy, a large coalition of groups sued the state for this constitutional right under the principle of no taxation without representation. One of the plaintiffs, Jennifer Schroeder, had served one year for a felony drug charge – but was given a 40 year probational sentence on her release. The language in the lawsuit pointed out that “the Plaintiffs have been deemed safe to live in their communities where they raise their children, contribute to Minnesota’s economic, cultural, religious, civic and political life, and pay taxes…but Minnesota denies plaintiffs an essential indicium of citizenship, the right to vote.”… Read the rest “Right to Vote Restored to 55,000 Paroled Felons”