Wednesday, October 07, 2020

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Enacts Law Stripping Voting Rights From Protesters

I have long been against depriving even people in prison from voting.  Dictatorships commonly arrest their opponents and jail them

https://www.blackenterprise.com/tennessee-gov-bill-lee-enacts-law-stripping-voting-rights-from-protesters/

 by Derek Major

August 25, 2020

 Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee quietly signed a bill last week that could result in some protesters losing their right to rock the vote.

The bill, which Gov. Lee signed into law Thursday, increases the penalties for people who illegally camp on state property to a Class E felony, punishable by up to six years in prison. Residents registered to vote in the state lose their right to vote if convicted of a felony.

The law will also implement a mandatory 45-day sentence for aggravated rioting, boosts the fine for blocking highway access to emergency vehicles and enhances the punishment for aggravated assault against a first responder to a Class C felony.

“This bill increases the punishment for illegal camping on state property from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days imprisonment and an order of restitution for any property damage or loss incurred as a result of the offense,” the bill, HB 8005 reads.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, told the Associated Press, it would be observing enforcement of the law.


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement_in_the_United_States


 Felony disenfranchisement in the United States

Felony disenfranchisement in the United States is the disfranchisement due to conviction of a criminal offense, usually restricted to the felony class of crimes, or more generally crimes of incarceration for a duration of more than a year or a fine exceeding $1,500. Jurisdictions vary as to when they make such disfranchisement permanent, or restore suffrage after a person has served a sentence, or completed parole or probation.[1] Felony disenfranchisement is one among the collateral consequences of criminal conviction and the loss of rights due to conviction for criminal offense

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Opponents argue that felony disenfranchisement can create political incentives to skew criminal law in favor of disproportionately targeting groups who are political opponents of those who hold power.

Many states adopted felon voting bans in the 1860s and 1870s, at the same time that voting rights for Blacks were being considered and contested. Scholars have tied the origins and intents of many state felon voting bans to racial discrimination.[5][6][7] In some states, legislators specifically tailored felon voting restrictions so that they would purposely and disproportionately target Blacks, for example, by targeting minor crimes which Blacks could be targeted with while allowing felons who committed more serious crimes (such as murder) to vote.


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The United States is among the most punitive nations in the world when it comes to denying the vote to those who have been convicted of a felony offense.[

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As of 2018, most US states have policies that restore voting rights upon completion of a sentence. Only 3 states, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia permanently disenfranchise a felony convict and 6 other states limit restoration based on crimes of "moral turpitude".[15]

The Supreme Court of the United States, by its ruling in the 1974 case of Richardson v. Ramirez,[16] has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment section 2 as permitting the states to disenfranchise convicted criminals. It is up to the states to decide which crimes could be grounds for disenfranchisement, and they are not formally bound to restrict this to felonies; however, in most cases, they do.[citation needed] Felons who have completed their sentences are allowed to vote in most U.S. states. Between 1996 and 2008, twenty-eight states changed their laws on felon voting rights, mostly to restore rights or to simplify the process of restoration.[17] Since 2008, state laws have continued to shift, both curtailing and restoring voter rights, sometimes over short periods of time within the same state.

[In some states, people who have served their sentence are only allowed to vote by applying to do so and being approved.]

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Seventeen states require not only that incarceration/parole if any be complete but also that any probation sentence (which is often an alternative to incarceration) be complete:

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Eight states have laws that relate disenfranchisement to the detail of the crime. These laws restore voting rights to some offenders on the completion of incarceration, parole, and probation. Other offenders must make an individual petition that could be denied.

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Three states require individual petition to the court for restoration of voting after all offenses.

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While some states automatically restore voting rights after incarceration, about thirty states condition the restoration of voting rights to the individual's ability to pay legal debts.[98] Those who are unable to pay these debts are automatically disenfranchised.

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