On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:52:01 +0100, "dave brooker" wrote:
:>"Current state law allows for first-time offenders who have completed their
:>sentences to regain their voting rights.
You've paid soggypuss the court ordered restitution?
:>However, after a second felony conviction, an ex-offender cannot ever vote again
:> unless the governor grants
:>a pardon, a process that takes anywhere from 17 to 27 years from the last
:>day of serving a sentence. Effectively, twice-convicted felons permanently
:>lose the right to vote in this state.
:>"If you have met all conditions of the sentence, you shouldn't wear a
:>scarlet letter for life," says State Senator Delores Kelly, author of Senate
:>Bill 184, which was introduced in mid-January to amend the existing statute.
:>"What we want is for [former offenders] to be vested in the community, to
:>take ownership of public issues, to pay their taxes, to work, to care about
:>making the world better. To tell them all they cannot vote is not the best
:>way to do it."
:>
:>According to a report issued last year by a Maryland General Assembly task
:>force, about 135,700 people--both incarcerated and released--are denied the
:>right to vote. This figure represents 3.6%% of the adult population in
:>Maryland." (http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/564/index.php)
:>
:>So commit two crimes and then lose the right to vote?
One down one to go for you, Shorty?
:>So for example someone convicted for say HANDGUN ON PERSON: CARRY/WEAR and
:>DEADLY WEAPON-CONCEAL would no longer be able to vote?
Not felony's, Lispy.
Did they tell you they were felonies when they convicted you?
