Posted on 10/05/2008 1:56:09 AM PDT by XR7
RICHMOND, Va. - Undaunted by the heat, James Bailey spent his late-summer afternoons walking Virginia's bleakest neighborhoods on the hunt for ex-cons — each a potential voter who might cast the decisive ballot in this hotly contested state.
Finding them isn't the hard part. It's getting them to admit that a past mistake has kept them from the ballot box.
"People are really, really reluctant to say, 'I lost my rights to vote,'" Bailey said of his quest, which continued in the run-up to Monday's registration deadline in Virginia for the November election.
Nationally, there are roughly 4 million released felons whose convictions have cost them the right to vote at least temporarily, if not permanently. To return to the ballot box, felons must negotiate suffrage laws that vary from state to state, in many cases working with election officials who can be both unfamiliar with the law and hostile to former convicts seeking to register.
Such challenges matter little to Bailey and others trying to return former criminals to voter rolls, an effort they consider crucial in light of the results of the past two presidential elections: A shift of a few hundred votes in Florida in 2000 would have changed the outcome of the presidential race, and the results in 2004 came down to a margin of 119,000 votes in Ohio.
Making the push The nonprofit groups and individual activists making the push on felons' behalf agree the effort is broader this year than in previous elections, even if they aren't necessarily making a coordinated push. They expect that effort to benefit Barack Obama more than John McCain, given that the population of former felons is disproportionately black.
Obama has co-sponsored a Senate measure that would allow all ex-felons to vote, but his...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Floridians can thank Governor Crist for the newest benefit for felons.
In some cases they will followed by a felony. They may be unable to vote; hold a corporate office; become a CPA or Lawyer; own a gun, etc.
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