Ninth Circuit to Inmate Voters: Not So Fast
A few weeks ago, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled that Washington State’s felon disenfranchisement law violates the Voting Rights Act (full opinion can be downloaded here), because it has the effect of disproportionately disenfranchising minority voters. (Three other federal circuits have upheld similar laws in other states.) Today, the panel granted Washington’s request to temporarily suspend its ruling, so as to give the state time to appeal to the Supreme Court (stay order can be downloaded here). Basically, the panel agreed not to issue right away a mandate that would have required state and county election officials to immediately begin allowing inmates and felons on community supervision to register and to cast ballots. That means inmates won’t be able to vote in the county special elections currently ongoing throughout Washington State.
[…] New York Times covers the Brennan Center report here; earlier, I blogged here about ongoing litigation over felon disenfranchisement in Washington State. For comparative […]
The Strange Career of Jim Crow (Yankee Edition) « Prison Law Blog
February 13, 2010 at 9:03 am
[…] the First Circuit rejected both of those arguments, the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that an antidiscrimination challenge to felon disenfranchisement may proceed. That ruling is now […]
Supreme Court May Take on Felon Voting Rights « Prison Law Blog
May 3, 2010 at 3:54 pm