Who's The Victim Now!!!

Birmingham News Confusion reigns in Alabama over ex-felons' ability to vote
Monday, October 06, 2008
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - When James Solomon went to register to vote earlier this year, he said he was told he couldn't vote because of a past conviction for cocaine possession.

That was in direct contrast to advice given by the Secretary of State's Office that drug possession is not a crime that strips someone of their voting rights.

"I just wanted to vote. When you got a felony, they treat you like you're nobody," said Solomon, an Enterprise welder and the widowed father of seven.

Less than a month shy of a historic election expected to bring record turnout, there still is uncertainty over who is eligible to vote in Alabama. State officials have given boards of registrars conflicting lists of felony convictions that bar a person from voting.

And registrars, already swamped with new voter applications, have the difficult task of sorting out who is and who isn't eligible to vote.

"We don't want to be in a multiple choice situation. You want to know the answer," Montgomery County Elections Director Trey Granger said.

A statewide computer system for the past 11 months has been noting convictions for more than 400 crimes that Gov. Bob Riley's administration deemed to be felonies of moral turpitude - even though officials with the Administrative Office of Courts said they were assured by Riley's office only a shorter list of 70 felonies developed by the attorney general's office were being checked.

"I know there is confusion. The computer system is flagging people who ought to be able to vote," said Kenneth Glasgow, a former drug offender turned pastor who works to help former felons to register to vote.

Secretary of State Beth Chapman said she's been trying to sort out the confusion through a series of conference calls and memos with county registrars over the past several months.

"They must first go to the AG's opinion. If that doesn't answer their question, they should seek guidance from their county attorney, their district attorney or my attorney," Chapman said, describing the advice her office has given local boards.



How big the problem is depends upon whom you ask.

"We don't know if it's a big, widespread problem. We're looking at a potential problem," said Adam Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting laws for Chapman. Thompson said his office found out last month that the lists hadn't been swapped, but Thompson said there are safeguards in place to make sure people eligible to vote can register.

Chapman for months has told county registrars to hand-check any convictions flagged by the computer system. Thompson said people who are denied voter registration are told they can appeal the decision.


Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said he's concerned tens of thousands of would-be voters could have been affected.

"Absolutely, there has been confusion. I think a lot of damage has been done to a lot of people," Turnham said.

Turnham said he's also concerned people have been improperly purged from the voter rolls.

"We have less than three weeks now to find the people who have been disenfranchised and get them back on the rolls," Turnham said.

The dispute centers on the definition of a crime of "moral turpitude." The state constitution says people convicted of felony crimes of "moral turpitude" cannot vote until they get their rights restored, but it does not define the term.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King in a 2005 opinion named 28 felonies - which add up to about 70 crimes if each of the degrees of the offenses are counted - that have by statute or appellate decision been defined as crimes of moral turpitude.

Riley, serving as court-appointed chief of Alabama elections, in 2007 created a list of more than 400 disbarring felonies and gave it to Election Systems & Software, the company hired to create a voter registration database for the state. Riley's list includes crimes ranging from terrorism and homicide to starting a brush fire and drug possession.



AOC Legal Director Griffin Sikes Jr. said the governor had no legal authority to classify so many crimes as crimes of moral turpitude. Sikes said that, for months, the governor's office had assured the AOC that only the shorter list was being used, but Sikes found out last month those assurances were given "in error."

Riley Communications Director Jeff Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because the AOC initially refused to provide one.

Emerson said that, although the governor's office agreed to let the shorter list be used, it believes its own research is more comprehensive and accurate.


Emerson said that, until last month, crimes on both lists were being flagged by the computer system. Cost was a factor in not swapping the lists, he said.

"We were told to remove the larger list would be very, very expensive," Emerson said.

Emerson said new software is being added this month to make convictions clearer to the registrars. The change was planned and won't be a significant cost to the state, he said.

"If there is confusion out there, it will end it. It's designed to," said Emerson, who pointed out that local registrars had the ultimate authority in deciding who to deny registration, and those people were given the opportunity to appeal.

The disagreement over the felony lists isn't the only one of the state's voting procedures being challenged less than a month shy of the election. One lawsuit also has been filed on the behalf of three former inmates who weren't allowed to register to vote, and another has been filed on behalf of Glasgow's efforts to register inmates to vote absentee. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law also said last week that it wants to seek records about voter roll purges in Alabama and another dozen states.

Walker County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Terra Tidwell said there has been confusion over which felons to exclude from voting, but things have improved because of communication from Chapman's office.

Flagged by computer:

Tidwell said she hand-checks convictions flagged by the computer.

Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Nell Hunter said she has the county attorney check criminal records after a person is flagged by the computer system. Jefferson County attorney Theo Lawson said he uses neither the governor's list nor the attorney general's, but relies on his own research which, he said, is more thorough than either list.

"I look at these on a case-by-case basis," Lawson said.


But Lawson said it would be preferable if there were a single definitive list.

"Oh my goodness, it would make life much easier," Lawson said.

Chapman and a spokesman for King said the best way to correct the problem is for the Alabama Legislature to set the rules for when former felons can vote.

" I don't make the law. The registrars don't make the law. We just abide by the law. And sometimes the law is very unclear," Chapman said.