[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1957 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1957

              To provide fairness in voter participation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 1999

    Mr. Davis  of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
              To provide fairness in voter participation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Constitutional Protection of the 
Right to Vote Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The right to vote is the most basic constitutive act of 
        citizenship. The right to vote should not be abridged by the 
        United States or any State on account of race, color, gender, 
        or previous condition of servitude. Fundamental fairness 
        requires that all members of society who have reached voting 
        age, including rehabilitated ex-felons, be given a right to the 
        ballot in State and Federal elections.
            (2) The lack of a nationwide uniform standard regarding ex-
        felons and eligibility to vote has led to a crazy quilt of 
        laws, where in some States ex-felons are barred from voting for 
        life. Currently, it is estimated that 3.9 million United States 
        citizens are disenfranchised, including over one million who 
        have completed their sentences. State disenfranchisement laws 
        have had an adverse affect on African Americans. Thirteen 
        percent of African American men, or 1.4 million, are currently 
        disenfranchised because of such laws.
            (3) While State law determines the qualifications for 
        voting, Congress must ensure that the citizens' right to the 
        ballot is unabridged. Disenfranchisement laws are vestiges of 
        medieval times when citizens who committed crimes suffered 
        civil death and were banished from society. These laws serve no 
        purpose in a free and democratic country toward the 
        reintroduction of individuals back into society. After an 
        individual has served a sentence of imprisonment and is no 
        longer on probation or parole, that individual should be 
        eligible to participate in Federal and State elections.

SEC. 3. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS.

    The right of a citizen of the United States to vote shall not be 
denied or abridged because that citizen has been convicted of a 
criminal offense, unless such citizen is, at the time of the vote, 
serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution or facility or 
is otherwise under the supervision or actual or constructive custody of 
a governmental authority pursuant to that conviction.

SEC. 4. NOTICE TO PERSONS RELEASED.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
each correctional institution or facility shall establish and carry out 
a system of notice to ensure that persons being released from that 
institution or facility are informed of the right to vote protected by 
this Act.

SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

    As used in this Act, the term ``correctional institution or 
facility'' means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institution 
or facility for the confinement of individuals convicted of criminal 
offenses.
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