Posted on 12/16/2019 2:04:56 PM PST by grundle
Lanisha Bratcher was finishing breakfast at home one morning at the end of July when there was a knock on her door. She had been discharged from the hospital the night before following a miscarriage that left her mourning the loss of her child.
Her partner opened the door – it was the police. They burst into their North Carolina home “like the Dukes of Hazzard”, Bratcher said. There was a warrant out for her arrest, they told her. Bratcher had no idea what for.
Her crime? Voting in the 2016 presidential election.
Bratcher faces up to 19 months in prison because she did not realize she had actually been stripped of the right to vote. Her lawyer says she’s being punished based on a Jim Crow-era law that was intended to disenfranchise African Americans.
Bratcher was on probation after being convicted of assault and North Carolina law mandates that people convicted of felonies can only vote once they complete their criminal sentences, including probation and parole, entirely.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show that a prosecutor brought charges against Bratcher even though state officials said she may have illegally voted unintentionally. The decision also came after a report in which state officials recognized there were serious problems in the system in place to inform convicted felons of their voting rights.
The state’s policy of banning people convicted of felonies from voting is rooted in a late 19th century effort by North Carolina Democrats to limit voting power of newly-enfranchised African Americans as whole. In 1898, the North Carolina Democratic party spoke of the need “to rescue the white people of the east from the curse of negro domination”.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I’ll state that the cops didn’t need to raid her place to arrest her - yeesh - just summon her to court.
But she can’t claim ignorance of the law.
Wouldn’t the same law apply to anyone of any race with a felony conviction?
Most people know that felons can’t vote. I am glad to see they are tightening up the voter registry. I feel for her, but most people know that felons can’t vote.
Is the implication that only black people are convicted of felonies?? The writer needs to visit some of our NC prisons. I am not sure of the black-white ratio, but it is probably 50/50 in the local hoosegow. And, the law applies to all.
“Wouldn’t the same law apply to anyone of any race with a felony conviction?”
Yes, but a significantly greater % of the black population have felony convictions so therefor it is disproportionally applied and thus racist.
Ah, man, just play along with the grievance mob already.
“The state’s policy of banning people convicted of felonies from voting is rooted in a late 19th century effort by North Carolina Democrats to limit voting power of newly-enfranchised African Americans as whole.”
So prior to this felons were fully franchised? And are we to equate the late 19th century African American community with felons? In other words poppycock.
.
Guardian race-baiting propaganda, courtesy of Yahoo.
Headline: Felon votes illegally.
Perhaps the answer is to make all crimes misdemeanors. J/K
Do the crimes win the penalties.
Or perhaps just not prosecute people of color?
“like the Dukes of Hazzard”,
Makes no sense.
They weren’t the cops on that show.
Baloney
Anyone want to bet there’s more to the story? I’ve been around law enforcement for a long time and I’ve never heard of the sheriff barging into a home to make an arrest on a non-violent charge. BTW, the Democrats complained when states wanted to post warnings at the poll about felons voting, calling it “voter suppression.” Now they complain that the Defendant didn’t know the law...
Easy enough to give those convicted and on probation or parole a piece of paper and verbal notice: this is when your sentence is up and you can vote again.
If NC doesn’t do that, it hardly seems fair. Most criminals are dumb or addled and can’t be expected to know the finer points of the law.
And raids, as opposed to knock and serve warrants, are seldom necessary.
I would like a fuller citation from the 19th. century Democrat platform to understand how it applies to current law.
It sure would mean a savings to the DA and public defender’s budgets as well as the courts. What a boon to taxpayers.
Where I live the white trash idiots outnumber the black ones.
Headline: Felon votes illegally.
Yep, she voted illegally, disenfranchising a legal voter. But who cares about legal voters? Thankfully, at least 1 prosecutor. Also, with all the lame and dishonest race baiting, the claim that they rushed in “like the Dukes of Hazzard” sounds like just another lie among many.
I just luv public record states. Our Lanisha has been a very busy girl and she should be well acquainted with pesky laws about felons. Her record is long.
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