State restores rights when sentences finished

By Jim Davenport

Associated Press

Sept. 18

COLUMBIA — An American Civil Liberties Union survey released Wednesday finds South Carolina election officials generally know that ex-felons can vote when they’ve completed their sentences. But the survey also shows that those officials don’t do so well when they are responding to more specific questions that affect 1,500 people completing prison, jail or probation time every month.

The civil rights organization has conducted similar surveys in 20 states, said Rachel Bloom, who oversees the group’s ex-felon voting programs. “The news isn’t all bad in South Carolina,” Bloom said.

The surveys were conducted in the state’s 46 counties with college students phoning and telling an election official they were conducting a survey on felon voting.

The results showed correct answers from 40 counties when asked about whether people could register to vote if they had completed parole, probation or incarceration time for a felony convictions. However, just over half got it right when asked about voting after being convicted in another state or for a federal offense.

South Carolina Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said that some of the questions appeared to be confusing and that he wasn’t sure about the methodology used. “It’s hard for me to put a value on what their percentages are,” Whitmire said.

Still, he said, “county voter registration officials can do better jobs. We all can do better at what we do.”

The ACLU and South Carolina Progressive Network say the survey’s results show local election officials need to have a better understanding of the law. “The history of voter registration in the United States is a history of preventing people from voting and we’re still living that history,” said Brett Bursey. the Progressive Network’s executive director.

The groups called for better training of election officials and law changes that would restore voting rights immediately after someone leaves prison or jail. They also want to add the state Corrections Department and Parole and Probation to a list of agencies responsible for registering voters.

Whitmire said there are regular training sessions for county election officials and the Election Commission doesn’t oppose allowing those two agencies to join others as so-called “motor-voter” agencies.

A handful of state agencies register voters now, including the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Social Service, Department of Health and Environmental Control and others that serve people with disabilities, such as the state Commission for the Blind.

Bursey also said the state quickly notifies felons after they’re convicted that they’ve lost voting rights, but does little afterward to tell them when they can vote.

Whitmire said letters mailed in the future to notify felons they’ve lost voting rights will tell convicts they can re-register once they’ve completed their sentences.ACLU: SC officials know when ex-felons may vote.