Wash. Senate OKs bill to restore voting for felons

Convicted felons could get their voting rights back once they're no longer in state custody, but not if they stop paying court-ordered fines, under a measure passed by the Senate.

The bill passed 29-19 Wednesday, but because the Senate made some changes it now goes back to the House, which passed it last month.

Under current law, felons can't vote until they have served their sentences and are no longer under state custody, including any parole or probation, and have paid all restitution and other court fees.

Under the bill that passed Wednesday, felons could register to vote once they're no longer under parole or probation. The Senate added an amendment allowing those rights to be revoked if a felon fails to make regular payments on financial obligations, including court fees or restitution.

"We want to give men and women coming out of prisons a chance to go in a new direction," said Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, who sponsored the amendment and voted for the bill. "But that also has to be balanced with the consequences of not doing the right thing."

Supporters of the measure say it's unfair that felons who can afford to pay their fines get their rights back, while those who can't afford to pay don't.

"What this bill does is provide fairness," said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.

Others argued that the state is obligated to make sure felons complete all of their sentences, including monetary obligations.

"You're putting felon voting rights in front of victim rights and I think that's wrong," said Sen. Dale Brandland, R-Bellingham. "There are victims across this state who are going to look at this and think, 'What in the world are you people thinking about?'"

Oregon automatically restores voting rights to felons once they're released from prison. Nearly 40 other states and the District of Columbia also have less onerous restrictions on restoring voting rights.

Similar bills have been raised here before, but this is the first time the measure has gotten any traction.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, the state's top elections officer, has not taken a position on such measures in the past, but this year he publicly supports the bill, saying it could foster greater civic engagement and help reduce the bureaucratic challenges in determining who is a legal voter.

The state's voter database is able to track people who are in prison or still under supervision by the state Department of Corrections. More than 12,000 felons have been removed from voter rolls since the database went online in 2006. But people who haven't yet had their rights restored, often because of unpaid court-ordered fines, are harder to track.

In 2002, it was estimated that more than 46,000 people previously convicted of felonies were barred from voting in Washington solely because they hadn't paid their fines. But elections officials say the actual number is impossible to know because there's no list of people who are no longer in the Corrections system but still owe money.

Under the bill that passed Wednesday, if a court revokes the voting rights of someone because he or she didn't try to pay their fines, the county clerk would enter that person's name into a database to be checked by the secretary of state.

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The restoration of voting rights measure is House Bill 1517.

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On the Net:

Washington Legislature: http://www.leg.wa.gov/o

Washington Secretary of State: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/