Voting Rights Battle in Washington State
April 15, 2004 - 2:31pm
According to the ACLU of Washington, which is leading the fight to restore voting rights for ex-felons in the state, approximately 46,500 Washingtonians had completed their full sentence but had not yet paid off their debts at the end of 2001. For these people, the only legal reason they can’t vote is that they still owe some money. These debts end up functioning as a form of “poll tax,” a tax that used to be imposed by some governments in the past to try to stop poor people from voting in elections. Just like in the old days, the law in Washington puts a price tag on one’s right to vote if you happen to have a past felony conviction.
The law is also unfair because of the general bias of our criminal justice system against the poor. For instance, two people may be charged with the same Class C felony, but they might not both be prosecuted as felons. A good lawyer may be able to get your charges reduced, but a good lawyer usually costs a lot of money.
Racial disparities in arrest rates in Washington add an additional layer of unfairness. The simple fact is that if you are African American, you are much more likely to be arrested. For instance, drug related prosecutions have been one of the main reasons for the huge prison boom in the U.S. over the last 30 years. In the Spring 2003 issue of Justice Matters, we reported that a Harvard University study determined that only 7% of African Americans use illegal drugs – about the same as the percentage of whites using illegal drugs. However, 70% of those approached by the Seattle police in their “buy/bust” sting operations are African Americans, and African Americans in Seattle are 22 times more likely to be arrested on drug charges. As a result, African Americans are much more likely to lose their right to vote because of felony convictions. Of course, this is not just a problem in Seattle, this is a problem all over the country.
Some scholars have estimated a rate of illegal drug use among African Americans as high as 14%. But, African Americans make up 55% of those convicted and 74% of those sentenced on drug charges. So even if you buy the idea that African Americans use more illegal drugs, the system is still hugely unfair to African Americans. What’s more, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that while 65% of crack cocaine users are white, 90% of those convicted on drug charges involving crack cocaine are black. At the Prison Project, we believe this is the result of racism. But, whether or not one agrees that racism is the main reason for this disparity, the fact that the number of African Americans being arrested on drug charges is very high when compared to the rate of African American drug use, and the impact of this unfair rate of prosecution, is undeniable and devastating.
It is also important to note that losing one’s voting rights is not part of one’s sentence; it’s not part of the criminal code. Instead, it is an additional punishment imposed on former felons by states.
States making it hard for African Americans, other people of color, and poor people to vote is not new. For example, in the 1950’s, long after the end of legal slavery, the right to vote was denied to many African Americans in some southern U.S. states. Blacks were denied this fundamental right by laws that required hopeful first time voters to take a citizenship test. This worked very effectively at keeping African Americans from being a force in elections because many African Americans were unable to read or write. Illiteracy among African Americans at the time was a legacy of the days when racist laws made it illegal to teach black people to read and write.
The first laws barring people with past criminal convictions from voting were imposed by states hoping to limit the voting power of black communities. This history may explain why states nationwide, and not just in the South, that ban people with past felony convictions from the polls tend to be those with larger non-white populations.
Today, in Washington, a combination of forces has turned back the clock on the voting rights gains of the civil rights movement for African Americans. Racial profiling, disparate arrest and prosecution rates, and the voting rights restrictions on ex-felons are weakening the political power of African American communities and many low-income communities.
The right to vote is just one of many basic rights which are denied to people with past felony convictions. By denying voting rights and imposing other restrictions (denying access to foodstamps, public housing, welfare and certain kinds of financial assistance for students, etc.) on people with past felony convictions, states make it more difficult for those leaving prison to successfully rejoin the community. By singling out and persecuting ex-felons, governments make it more likely that they will eventually commit another crime. This makes the issue of voting rights both a public safety issue and an issue of racial and economic justice.
Article by Scot Nakagawa
Washington is one of 13 states in the U.S. that permanently denies many people with felony convictions their right to vote, even after they have served their time and completed post-prison supervision. A 1998 Sentencing Project report estimated that more than 151,500 Washingtonians are denied the right to vote because of a felony on their record. That’s 3.7% of the voting population of Washington State, more than double the national average. Disenfranchisement (taking the right to vote away) is a major problem in Washington that especially affects low-income people and African Americans. In fact, nearly 25% of African American men in Washington have permanently lost their right to vote, seriously limiting the voice of the African American community on public policy issues.
Statistics like this have made Washington notorious for being one of the worst states in the country when it comes to voting rights. The system in Washington is unfair on many different levels. First of all, the voting law discriminates against the poor. In order to get back the right to vote, Washington requires that people with past felony convictions pay off all of their legal fines and obligations. These legal fines and obligations are debts imposed by the courts. They can include court costs, penalty assessments, court appointed attorney’s fees, restitution, and, in some cases, the cost of incarceration. These fines are assessed at sentencing, and then compound at an annual interest rate of 12% a year. The seriousness of a person’s offense and the amount of debt one can end up owing do not always match up. People who commit property crimes, for instance, may end up owing more than those who commit more serious person-to-person crimes.
According to the ACLU of Washington, which is leading the fight to restore voting rights for ex-felons in the state, approximately 46,500 Washingtonians had completed their full sentence but had not yet paid off their debts at the end of 2001. For these people, the only legal reason they can’t vote is that they still owe some money. These debts end up functioning as a form of “poll tax,” a tax that used to be imposed by some governments in the past to try to stop poor people from voting in elections. Just like in the old days, the law in Washington puts a price tag on one’s right to vote if you happen to have a past felony conviction.
The law is also unfair because of the general bias of our criminal justice system against the poor. For instance, two people may be charged with the same Class C felony, but they might not both be prosecuted as felons. A good lawyer may be able to get your charges reduced, but a good lawyer usually costs a lot of money.
Racial disparities in arrest rates in Washington add an additional layer of unfairness. The simple fact is that if you are African American, you are much more likely to be arrested. For instance, drug related prosecutions have been one of the main reasons for the huge prison boom in the U.S. over the last 30 years. In the Spring 2003 issue of Justice Matters, we reported that a Harvard University study determined that only 7% of African Americans use illegal drugs – about the same as the percentage of whites using illegal drugs. However, 70% of those approached by the Seattle police in their “buy/bust” sting operations are African Americans, and African Americans in Seattle are 22 times more likely to be arrested on drug charges. As a result, African Americans are much more likely to lose their right to vote because of felony convictions. Of course, this is not just a problem in Seattle, this is a problem all over the country.
Some scholars have estimated a rate of illegal drug use among African Americans as high as 14%. But, African Americans make up 55% of those convicted and 74% of those sentenced on drug charges. So even if you buy the idea that African Americans use more illegal drugs, the system is still hugely unfair to African Americans. What’s more, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that while 65% of crack cocaine users are white, 90% of those convicted on drug charges involving crack cocaine are black. At the Prison Project, we believe this is the result of racism. But, whether or not one agrees that racism is the main reason for this disparity, the fact that the number of African Americans being arrested on drug charges is very high when compared to the rate of African American drug use, and the impact of this unfair rate of prosecution, is undeniable and devastating.
It is also important to note that losing one’s voting rights is not part of one’s sentence; it’s not part of the criminal code. Instead, it is an additional punishment imposed on former felons by states.
States making it hard for African Americans, other people of color, and poor people to vote is not new. For example, in the 1950’s, long after the end of legal slavery, the right to vote was denied to many African Americans in some southern U.S. states. Blacks were denied this fundamental right by laws that required hopeful first time voters to take a citizenship test. This worked very effectively at keeping African Americans from being a force in elections because many African Americans were unable to read or write. Illiteracy among African Americans at the time was a legacy of the days when racist laws made it illegal to teach black people to read and write.
The first laws barring people with past criminal convictions from voting were imposed by states hoping to limit the voting power of black communities. This history may explain why states nationwide, and not just in the South, that ban people with past felony convictions from the polls tend to be those with larger non-white populations.
Today, in Washington, a combination of forces has turned back the clock on the voting rights gains of the civil rights movement for African Americans. Racial profiling, disparate arrest and prosecution rates, and the voting rights restrictions on ex-felons are weakening the political power of African American communities and many low-income communities.
The right to vote is just one of many basic rights which are denied to people with past felony convictions. By denying voting rights and imposing other restrictions (denying access to foodstamps, public housing, welfare and certain kinds of financial assistance for students, etc.) on people with past felony convictions, states make it more difficult for those leaving prison to successfully rejoin the community. By singling out and persecuting ex-felons, governments make it more likely that they will eventually commit another crime. This makes the issue of voting rights both a public safety issue and an issue of racial and economic justice.
