Legislature considering bills that limit felons’ voting rights

The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow knows what it’s like to have his voting rights taken away.

That’s why he spent Tuesday in Montgomery lobbying against bills that would make it difficult or impossible for felons to regain their voting rights after being released from prison.

At the center of Glasgow’s concerns is a bill originating from Attorney General Troy King that revokes felons’ voting rights, regardless of the crime they committed. Under the current law, only felons who committed a crime of “moral turpitude” have their voting rights completely repealed.

“When you take a person’s voting rights, you take them from being able to get public housing, public assistance, student aid, Pell Grants. They can’t get a business license,” Glasgow said. “It puts them in a position where they have a sentence for a certain amount of time, but the collateral consequences last a lifetime. Those of us who have been incarcerated who have paid our dues to society are not second-class citizens, we’re second-chance citizens.”

Glasgow says the state Legislature should leave the existing law alone, but he’s concerned due to some proposed bills that add and expound upon the crimes that constitute moral turpitude.

“We’re not talking about people who have commiteed violent crimes. We’re talking about victimless crimes,” he said. “Crimes of possession only, felony DUIs, people who did business without a license. No crimes that caused danger to another person. If people want to stop recidivism, stop violence and cause families to come back together, stop trying to disenfranchise people and start trying to (enfranchise) people.”

According to the Mongtomery Advertiser, State Rep. Randy Wood, R-Anniston, and Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, are sponsoring the bill.

Calls to the offices of Wood, Beason and King went unreturned Thursday afternoon.