New Law: Restoring Voting Rights

["Canova, Timothy" <CANOVA@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On March 15th, Governor Gary Johnson signed into law Senate Bill 204 to
> restore the right to vote to citizens convicted of a felony who have
> satisfied all the conditions of their sentences.  The bill had been
> introduced by Senator Richard M. Romero, the President Pro Tem of the
> Senate.
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> Dating back to 1911, New Mexico was one of only nine states that had
> denied voting rights to ex-felons for the rest of their lives.  Such
> felony disenfranchisement laws were often adopted to keep black citizens
> from voting.  More than 13 percent of black men (some 1.4 million
> nationwide) -- and in some states nearly 40 percent of black men -- are
> disenfranchised as a result of such laws.
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> The Sante Fe New Mexican reported that as many as 45 percent of black
> males in the state could not vote -- "the highest ratio in the country."
> Hispanics and Native Americans were also disproportionately harmed by
> felony disenfranchisement in New Mexico.  For instance, while Hispanics
> make up about 40 percent of the state's population, they constitute 60
> percent of the state's prisoners.
>
> One prominent study concluded that as of Dec. 31, 1998 more than 54,000
> New Mexicans (or 5.52 percent of the state's voting age population) were
> deprived of the right to vote as a result of the old law.
>
> In Florida, nearly 9 percent of the voting age population are permanently
> barred from voting as a result of that state's felony disenfranchisement
> law.
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> Timothy A. Canova
> Assistant Professor of Law
> University of New Mexico School of Law
> 1117 Stanford Drive N.E.
> Albuquerque, New Mexico  87131
>
> Tel:  (505) 277-5654
> Fax:  (505) 277-0068
> e-mail:  canova@xxxxxxxxxxx
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