In New York, convicted felons are not allowed to vote until they have served their sentence. Voting rights are automatically restored after the sentence is completed. Whether the conviction is for homicide, rape, assault, or grand larceny, the conventional thought is that because the criminal broke the social contract that all citizens have with their […]
In New York, convicted felons are not allowed to vote until they have served their sentence. Voting rights are automatically restored after the sentence is completed. Whether the conviction is for homicide, rape, assault, or grand larceny, the conventional thought is that because the criminal broke the social contract that all citizens have with their community, they should lose their right to vote. However, in light of the shift of political power in the state, and under the guise of social justice, Democrats in Albany have now made a renewed push to provide incarcerated felons the right to vote.
Last month, legislators introduced a bill that, if passed and signed by Gov. Cuomo, would allow convicted felons in county jails and state prisons to vote via absentee ballot. In addition, the bill proposes to establish an inmate voter-registration program, provide access and assistance with voter-registration forms, and a mechanism for voting, including but not limited to, absentee ballots.
This legislative push to provide voting rights to criminals is on par with actions taken by Cuomo. As some may recall, in May 2018, the governor issued 24,000 conditional voting pardons for convicted felons who were on parole. Traditionally, restoring voting privileges for parolees was considered on a case-by-case basis. However, Gov. Cuomo, without legislative input, has broadly restored the right to vote for parolees through the use of pardons. In the past year and a half, Cuomo has periodically conditionally pardoned large numbers of parolees at once in order to allow them to vote and ensured that each is provided with a voter-registration form. At last count in August, more than 44,000 parolees have been conditionally pardoned to vote.
As if providing conditional pardons to all parolees and proposing to allow incarcerated felons to vote isn’t enough, last year legislators introduced a bill that would allow inmates, 55 years of age or older and who have served at least 15 years of their prison sentence, to be automatically eligible for early release on parole. The early release would come, according to this bill, even if the inmates have not served the minimum sentence imposed and regardless of the crime they have committed. This bill, dubbed the Elder Parole Bill, did not move in either house of the state legislature, but there is little doubt that there will be a renewed effort to enact it during this upcoming legislative session.
You can find previous columns of mine that attempt to explain more on this trend to protect criminals here: https://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/William-A-Barclay/story/87422 and here: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/William-A-Barclay/story/82866. Ultimately, with any criminal-justice reform there needs to be acknowledgment of the victims of the crime, protection of the public, and then lastly help for the criminal. Sadly, too many of the criminal-justice reforms that continue to be introduced and enacted in this state focus solely on expanding criminal rights.
William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us or (315) 598-5185.