Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 - An estimated 1.5 million former convicts are unable to vote in 14 states around the country because of state policies that make it cumbersome, confusing and difficult for them to return to voter rolls after completing their sentences, according to a new study. Fewer than 3 percent of felons in those states have managed to register to vote after finishing their sentences, according to the study released Wednesday by the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit research group that favors more liberal sentencing policies for criminals. In Mississippi, for instance, just 107 of more than 82,000 felons have...

It took more than 21 hours from the time polls closed Tuesday night for Fairfax County, the putative high-tech capital of the region, to get final election results from its new, computerized vote machines. Widespread problems in the system, which the county paid $3.5 million to install, also opened the door to possible election challenges by party leaders and candidates. School Board member Rita S. Thompson (R), who lost a close race to retain her at-large seat, said yesterday that the new computers might have taken votes from her. Voters in three precincts reported that when they attempted to vote...