IIRC, an IL governor (this millennium) did the same thing to all death row members, or maybe it was giving felons the right to vote. Or both.
A RINO. Didn’t help in election.
Pretty sure he went on to be convicted of corruption or the like.
Former governor of New Mexico, Toney Anaya, commuted all death row sentences of inmates in the 1980’s. Three of them busted out later and killed a family vacationing in AZ and another person in CA.
George Ryan. He wasn’t trying to sway the election, he was trying to curry favor with inmates, since he was headed to prison.