Tennessee: Bills to restore felons' vote rights stir debate - Republicans Against Black Ex-Felons Voting

Some Democrats in the legislature are pushing bills to make it easier for convicted felons to vote, but, they are drawing fire from state prosecutors and some Republicans. The NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union are pressing lawmakers to change a law they say is unfair to people who have paid their debt to society and is racially biased. Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, is the sponsor of one proposed change that would make it easier for felons to restore their citizenship rights.Tennessee law forbids most convicted felons from casting a vote, but most can restore their rights if they petition a court. Because of an oversight by the legislature, anyone convicted of a felony between Jan. 15, 1973, and May 17, 1981, can vote, even if serving time. Cohen thinks that once felons have served their time, they ought to get that right restored, but the head of the state's association of prosecutors said restoring voting rights will make it easier for convicted felons to obtain weapons. ''Putting a condition of where you'd have to go back to court is basically analogous to what they used to have in the South that was called a literacy test,'' Cohen said. ''It's just an impediment that was put in to stop people from voting. And the costs that's attributed to it of hiring an attorney and taking off from work and paying court costs is similar to a poll tax, except it's even more oppressive.'' Under Cohen's bill, felons who have served their time in prison, completed supervision by the Board of Probation and Parole or served one year of probation would be eligible to vote. [more]