Restoring The Vote In Texas
Earlier this week we launched our most recent video, a quick explainer on voter rights restoration for those coming back from a felony conviction.
Take a look at that video HERE!
It’s no surprise at all to find that there is so much confusion around voter rights for formerly incarcerated Texans with a conviction.
Some early feedback we’ve received:
“Pretty sure felons can’t vote in Texas.”
Reality: That’s not the case at all. People in Texas automatically get back their right to vote after they’ve completed the terms of their felony conviction. That means time served as well completion of probation or parole. (*Note: getting back the right to vote automatically doesn’t mean they’re automatically re-registered to vote. They will still need to register to vote once again in order to be on the rolls come Election Day.)
For more on this, check out www.restoreyourvote.org.
Be sure to visit the Texas State Law Library as well.
The difficulty however can happen in how probation and/or parole is completed. Sometimes, wrapped up in the terms of one’s probation or parole are legal financial obligations that must be paid up. An inability to pay these fines and/or fees can sometimes result in the delay in completion of probation and/or parole. So what does this mean? It means your voter rights restoration can be delayed as well.
“They don’t get to vote until they pay their fines and restitution.”
Reality: Like we’ve been saying, the completion of probation and/or parole can be based at least in part on the full payment of fines and/or fees.
But should voter rights be tied to the completion of probation and/or parole?
Every state that ties the right to vote to completion of parole and/or probation also allows payment of legal debt to be a condition of parole and/or probation.
In some cases, parole and probation can take years to complete. On top of time served during incarceration. Years of you being unable to be a voting member of society even though it’s been years since you were behind bars.
We argue that voter rights restoration should not be tied to probation or parole completion. Your right to vote should be restored upon your release from jail or prison. As people are coming out of incarceration trying to build lives and become productive in their communities again, so too should they be able to exercise their individual power at the ballot box.
Visit Restoring The Vote in Texas video here:
And be sure to check out our handout on coming back from a felony conviction and regaining the right to vote! Visit all of our one pagers here. These are yours to print off (double sided!) and share in your voter outreach work! Let us know how we can fill out the voter toolkit even more!
EXTRA READING:
From July 2019 -
Texas’ System For Restoring Voting Rights For Ex-Felons Is Akin To A ‘Poll Tax,’ Study Says
