||| FROM GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE’S OFFICE |||
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday signed a bill restoring the right to vote for Washingtonians convicted of felonies automatically upon their release from incarceration.
Under House Bill 1078, roughly 20,000 people would regain their right to vote, according to the state Department of Corrections. The was sponsored by Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton.
“While other states are restricting their right to vote, I’m glad that in Washington here, we’re expanding our access to democracy,” said Inslee in a bill-signing event.
Before now, people with felonies didn’t necessarily have their voting rights restored upon leaving prison. Instead, they could regain voting rights after finishing the conditions of their sentence, such as community supervision terms, which can last for months or years.
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Is this the most important work our Governor has in front of him at this time in our world? Restoring felons voting rights directly out of prison over them “regain voting rights after finishing the conditions of their sentence, such as community supervision terms”? How about cleaning up the dump Seattle has turned into? It looks like all the garbage trucks in the State threw up all over the streets. Stop the coddling & enabling! Read up on addiction Inslee, enabling is not helping the problem, it welcomes more addicts to the area & enables the current ones to keep living the life they hate but are being spoon fed with bus passes, cell phones, needles, tents, clothing, blankets, hotel rooms to continue with no motivation to make the hard decision to get help out. Idiocracy at its finest…
Well stated Uzek. Thank you!
Also, automatically restoring voting rights for convicted felons immediately upon their release seems to me to be an open opportunity for certain self-serving entities to “buy” their votes, one way or another. Those who commit felonious crimes are more likely to be tempted to vote for reasons other than moral patriotism.