Inmates to vote in city elections

Some inmates in the city and county jails will have the chance to vote in upcoming municipal elections, thanks to the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow.

Glasgow and The Ordinary People Society will be registering inmates in the city and county jails and also in the local community corrections program.

Alabama law permits inmates convicted of misdemeanors and felonies not involving moral turpitude to vote.

Glasgow has been in the forefront of the drive to allow inmates to vote, visiting jails and prisons around the state to register them.

In 2006, 90 inmates in city and county jails statewide voted. In 2007, 300 voted. And in 2008, 2,500 inmates voted, including felons in state prison. The felons were able to vote after Glasgow won a lawsuit regarding the rights of felons not convicted of moral turpitude to vote.

This means ex-felons and felons currently serving time who were convicted of minor felonies, such as felony DUI, attempted burglary, battery, aiding and abetting escape and some drug possession offenses, are eligible to vote. Those convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, forgery, etc., can’t vote.

Glasgow estimates the change in voting laws could enfranchise about 70,000 Alabama residents who were previously barred from voting because of felony convictions.

Currently, about 100 inmates are in community corrections, 70 in the city jail and 500 in the county jail. Glasgow estimates that hundreds of inmates could vote in the city elections next month.