Officials kept felons from voting, lawsuit charges
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Scott Hiaasen
Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter

Election officials in 21 Ohio counties, including Lake and Ashtabula, have misled felons about their rights and prevented them from registering to vote, prisoner-advocacy groups charge in a lawsuit.

The groups, who filed the federal suit Tuesday in Cincinnati, want election offices to make sure they register felons who are on probation or parole. They also want Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to send notices to more than 100,000 Ohio felons informing them of their voting rights.

The voting rights of convicts has become a major issue for civil-rights groups after the 2000 presidential election, when thousands of Florida felons - and several hundred people mistaken for felons - were removed from the voter rolls before Election Day. Laws that curb voting rights of felons are believed to have a disproportionate impact on blacks and other minorities.

Under Ohio law, felons are not allowed to vote while in prison, but they can vote after being released or while on probation or parole.

Earlier this year, workers with the Prison Reform Advocacy Center made test calls to all the state's election offices to see how they treated felons.

According to the suit, election officials in Lake, Hamilton and other counties told the callers that felons could not vote until after their probation or parole concluded.

The advocates fear that thousands of felons have been misinformed about their rights in this way (about 18,000 people are on parole statewide, and thousands more are on probation). That's why they want Blackwell to notify freed felons that they can register before Oct. 4 - the last day to register to be eligible to vote on Nov. 2.

"As the chief elections official for the state of Ohio, it is Ken Blackwell's responsibility," said David Singleton, the lawyer who filed the suit. "We think the only way to correct the problem is to give them notice."

But state officials say they already go to great lengths to keep felons informed. For example, they routinely send voter-registration forms to the Adult Parole Authority to be passed on to felons leaving prison, said Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the secretary of state.

Two weeks ago - after the Prison Reform Advocacy Center released a report showing disparities in how Ohio counties handle the issue - Blackwell's office sent a 37-page memo to all local election offices detailing the voting rights of felons.

Based on that memo, every employee at the Lake County Board of Elections now has written instructions to make sure those on probation or parole are allowed to register, said Jan Clair, the county's election director.

"The situation has been corrected in Lake County," Clair said. "I've issued a statement to my staff that if we get any calls, anyone who is not in prison" may register.

The issue has been complicated because counties keep track of felons differently. For example, the Cuyahoga County court tells election officials which felons went to prison and which ones were placed on probation; the election workers then remove the prison inmates from the voter rolls.

But many courts don't make this distinction, leaving it to election officials to figure out who's in prison and who's on probation, LoParo said.