Virginia: Disenfranchisement Reform Advances
Editorial Praise for Gov. McDonnell's New Policy
For One Man, Regaining Voting Rights Was “Main Priority”
Kemba Smith's Fight for Voting Rights
Former Electoral Board Member Argues Against Voting Rights Restoration
Alabama: Short Film Explores Challenges Faced by Disenfranchised Alabamians
Florida: Florida Leads the Nation in Disenfranchisement
North Carolina: Proposed Bill Would Impose Five-Year Waiting Period for Rights Restoration
California: Voting Rights Bill Moves Forward

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell took office admirably determined to change a scandalously antiquated system by which the state has deprived several hundred thousand felons of their voting rights — permanently. To his credit, he’s done a better job than any of his predecessors at restoring the vote for former offenders who have served their sentences.

But measured against the problem, the governor’s efforts have amounted to little. Given that more than half of the state’s prison population is African American, the result is a stain on the state’s democracy.

The essential problem is a provision in the state’s constitution, reaffirmed by racist lawmakers more than a century ago, that deprives felons of the vote unless their rights are individually restored by the governor. Only Florida, Iowa and Kentucky are as punitive.

Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia enlarged democracy  last Wednesday when he announced an order requiring the automatic restoration of voting rights for nonviolent offenders who have historically had to fight through a bureaucratic maze to gain access to the polls.

Governor McDonnell’s order, which could cover more than 100,000 people, reflects a growing awareness that disenfranchisement serves no rehabilitative purpose — and may, in fact, contribute to further criminal behavior by forcing former offenders to the margins of society.

In all, nearly six million Americans — about 2.5 percent of the voting-age population — are barred from voting by a confusing patchwork of state laws that strip convicted offenders of the right to vote, often temporarily, but sometimes for life.

Last week, the U.S. Senate accepted an amendment to the Farm Bill that would deny food stamps to anyone ever convicted of certain offenses and reduce benefits for the person's household. The hastily considered amendment is unjust, cruel, and counterproductive.

Gov. Bob McDonnell today will announce that he is automatically restoring the voting rights of nonviolent felons on an individual basis.

The sweeping administrative action - while not an instantaneous blanket restoration - is as far as the governor can go within current Virginia law, administration officials said.

The change, effective July 15, removes the application process for nonviolent felons. Once the administration verifies a nonviolent felon has paid his debt to society, the governor will send the individual a letter restoring his rights.

Research: Wisconsin Leads Nation in Rate of Black Male Incarceration
Courts: Court Rules on Retroactive Application of the Fair Sentencing Act
California School District Sued for Racial Profiling of Latino Youth
Legislation: Iowa: Minority Impact Statements Generate Debate

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, joined other experts in a conversation with Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to discuss the Obama Administration’s plans to support innovative alternatives to incarceration and policies that reduce drug use and its consequences.

View here.

The mantra of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — the man the media calls “America’s toughest sheriff” is: “Make the criminals as uncomfortable as the law allows.”

Arpaio, 88, is beginning his 22nd year in office, having won his sixth consecutive term as sheriff.

Nothing has been able to dislodge him — not a federal grand jury that investigated him for abuse of power; not the Department of Justice, which effectively labeled him a racist for his treatment of Latinos in his crackdown on illegal immigration; not a citizen-led recall movement.

But a change in American corrections policy could do to Sheriff Joe what his opponents have not: render him outdated and expendable.

In an unprecedented action against mass incarceration, a statewide coalition is embarking on a 100 mile march across Pennsylvania to demand “A People’s Budget, Not a Prison Budget.” The march will start in Philadelphia at Love Park at noon on May 25 and conclude with a noontime rally at the state capitol building in Harrisburg on June 3, as the state legislature reconvenes to discuss the budget for next year.

Marchers are demanding that the General Assembly refuse to pass a budget with increases in corrections spending. They further call for the governor to stop the $400 million construction of two new prisons in Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia.

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, said: “At a time when prison populations are finally beginning to decline nationally, it’s unfortunate that Pennsylvania is planning to build new prisons.”

The United States’ rate of incarceration is the highest in the world. Why and how did this happen? Marc Mauer’s Race to Incarcerate,first published in 1999, has become an important text for understanding the growth of the US prison system and a canonical work for those active in the US criminal justice reform movement.

Now Sabrina Jones, a member of the World War 3 Illustrated collective and an author of politically engaged comics, has collaborated with Mauer to adapt and update the original book into a comics narrative, Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling, designed to reach new audiences. Listen here.