Speed return of voter rights to ex-cons

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When convicts fulfill their debts to society — serve out their prison terms, complete probation and discharge whatever the terms of their sentences may be — they are free to become contributing members of society.
Ideally, those ex-cons get jobs and pay taxes.

If that's the case, they ought to be allowed to vote, just like other citizens.

Fourteen states, however, restrict the voting rights of ex-cons. Nebraska is among them.

In Nebraska, former felons have to wait 10 years and then have to receive full pardons before they can go to the polls. Not surprisingly, few do.

A study by The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group that supports integration of ex-cons into society, said that out of Nebraska's pool of more than 44,000 felons who could have had their voting rights restored, only 343 of them have been successful.

Sen. DiAnna Schimek is the primary sponsor of a bill that would restore ex-felons' rights two years after their sentences were completed. The bill would immediately affect the estimated 11,000 to 44,000 felons who completed their sentences years ago.

The proposal came from a recent bipartisan statewide task force study on election law reform, according to Schimek. The bill also follows the recommendation of the 2001 report from the bipartisan National Commission on Election Reform headed by former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

The measure won first-round approval by the substantial favorable vote of 41-8, but supporters are worried that level of support might diminish as the bill moves to second- and third-round approval.

Opponents of the bill seem to think that approval of the measure might somehow diminish the hurt and damage inflicted on victims of felonies.

Sen. Adrian Smith of Gering even argued that the bill was a partisan political measure favoring Democrats.

But the concept that ex-cons should be given chances to return to productive lives in their communities has a long history in U.S. criminal justice and has support from both parties. When he was governor of Texas, President Bush, for example, signed a bill giving ex-cons the right to vote after they finished their sentences.

It's true that some felons are career criminals who soon are in trouble with the law after they get out of prison.

But the ex-cons on whom the loss of voting rights weighs most heavily are those who are joined the mainstream of society to lead productive lives. They hold jobs, raise families and do volunteer work. They ought to be able to go to the polls on Election Day.