MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — After serving eight months behind bars for a conviction of receiving stolen property, Annette McWashington Pruitt was excited about the prospect of being able to vote again.
One of her first stops after being released from prison was the Jefferson County Voter Registrar’s Office. But she was told she was a convicted felon and couldn’t vote.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Pruitt said. “They continued to give me numbers to call. It was very much demeaning.”
Now she has gone to court to try to get her right to vote restored.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in Montgomery Circuit Court on behalf of Pruitt and two other ex-felons seeking restoration of their voting rights. The lawsuit claims Alabama law is unclear on the subject, citing a bill passed by the Legislature in 2003 that says felons can vote unless convicted on “crimes of moral turpitude,” but never defines those crimes.
The Legislature adopted a list of 15 crimes, including murder, treason and some sex crimes, that would exempt a person from having their voting rights restored. But the lawsuit says it’s up to the state’s voter registrars and the attorney general to decide in other cases if a person’s rights can be restored.
“Two voter registrars might come to different conclusions,” said Sam Brooke, an attorney for the ACLU.
The lawsuit asks that convicted felons not be denied the right to voted unless they were convicted of one of the crimes on the list adopted by the Legislature.
The lawsuit also asks that the state not deny a convicted felon the right to vote because they have not paid all court ordered fines and restitution. Brooke said that requirement makes it easier for convicts from wealthier backgrounds to get their rights restored.
“We believe this is a modern day version of the poll tax,” Brooke said.
Brooke said more than 40 states make it easier for convicted felons to have their rights restored. Alabama has a procedure through the Board of Pardons and Paroles that allows felons to apply to have their rights restored, but Brooke said that process is “complicated and confusing.”
In Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist and the state clemency board last year voted to make it easier for most felons to have their voting rights restored.
Officials in the Alabama attorney general’s offices declined to comment, saying they had not seen the lawsuit.
“Because the lawsuit has been filed, the issue will have to be resolved by the courts,” Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman said in a statement.
Restoring voting rights would help most convicts return to society after prison, said Ed Nettles, pastor of Freewill Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery.
“It gives them a sense of dignity, a sense of pride, a sense of connecting to the community,” Nettles said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
Pruitt said she has a son in the military in Iraq and another son who is going into the Navy and that voting has always been an important part of her life.
“My father taught me this is what every American should do,” she said.
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