Washington felons Face Fines, Additional Barriers for Voting

Under Washington's disenfranchisement laws, about 159,000 felons -- about 3.5 percent of the state's voting age population -- can't vote, according to The Sentencing Project, a national criminal-justice research group based in Washington, D.C. Washington's voting restrictions have hit the state's black community the hardest, disenfranchising about 14 percent of the black voting-age population. One in every four black males in Washington cannot vote, a rate of disenfranchisement rivaling Alabama, Florida and Mississippi, according to The Sentencing Project research. "The impact is huge," said state Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle, whose district includes traditionally black neighborhoods such as the Central Area and Rainier Valley. "It means that the voice of the poorest, most struggling part of the black community is not heard." Felons can regain the right to vote if they have completed all the conditions of their sentence, including "legal financial obligations" that include court costs, public defender fees, and restitution to victims. Attorney, Nancy Talner of the ACLU, said for the majority of felons, those court fees are "an insurmountable barrier. According to state Department of Corrections data, between 1988 and 2004, there were 70,000 cases in which felons completed all the conditions of their sentences and had their civil rights -- defined as the right to vote and serve on a jury -- restored. During that same period, another 200,000 felony cases were terminated by the DOC without those rights being restored because the felons failed to meet some condition of their sentences -- such as their court debts or community service requirements. [more]