Posted on 08/06/2020 9:28:01 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an executive order Wednesday granting convicted felons the right to vote after they complete their sentences, ending Iowa’s place as the only remaining state to broadly deny voting rights to felons.
Reynolds, a Republican, fulfilled a promise she made to issue the order. She said she'll continue to push the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment preventing future governors from overturning it.
Her order will not automatically restore voting rights to felons convicted of certain crimes, including first- and second-degree murder, attempted murder, fetal homicide and some sex offenses. Such felons would still need to petition the governor for the restoration of their voting rights. The order will not require felons to make full financial restitution to their victims before they'll be allowed to vote — a requirement that was opposed by Black Lives Matter, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which called for a a no-strings-attached order.
The order will restore the rights to an estimated 40,000 people who have completed prison sentences, probation and parole, said Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, which has worked for several years for the change.
"We absolutely encourage people to take this day and register," she said. “Now our work is to make sure that people are registered and understand as of today they don't need to do paperwork, they don't need to do anything like that. As of today they are allowed to vote.”
Mark Stringer, the executive director of the ACLU of Iowa, lauded Reynold's order as a victory for the state.
Reynolds has made the issue a priority, previously discussing her own struggle with alcoholism and drunken driving arrests.
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
She isn’t a Republican !
For things like rape and murder, there can be no Restitution made that I can envision.
Martha Stuart is a "felon"... Keep that in mind before discounting the idea of restitution/restoration.
We currently have so many stupid, some of them blatantly unConstitutional, laws on the books that just going through a normal work day, you are a FELON.
That hasn't worked well for us so far...
Do your time. Pay your penance. Go forth and sin no more...
Reynolds has made the issue a priority, previously discussing her own struggle with alcoholism and drunken driving arrests before she sought treatment and got sober more than 20 years ago.
I am fine with this so long as ALL DEBT, Prison sentence, restitution, reimbursement, is paid in full.
Some folks really do reform. Many embrace Christianity and will not vote Democrat.
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