Ohio Ex-felons' voting rights misstated

Hamilton County elections officials are providing "misleading and erroneous" voting information to ex-felons, a Cincinnati-area prisoner advocacy group said Tuesday. The Prison Reform Advocacy Center surveyed 140 former state prison inmates and talked to all 88 county boards of elections. The group found that one in five ex-felons don't realize they can re-register to vote, and some election boards were unaware of the law. "This is absolutely unacceptable that boards of elections that are supposed to know Ohio law ... are giving misleading, inconsistent and flat-out wrong information to ex-offenders," said David Singleton, executive director of the center. Ohio is one of 12 states, plus the District of Columbia, that allows ex-felons to regain voting rights once released from prison. About 22,000 inmates are released from Ohio prisons each year.[more]