Voting Rights

In an intensely competitive election year, this was supposed to be the issue virtually everyone in Congress could agree on: renewing civil rights-era laws protecting minorities' access to the ballot box.

The state Supreme Court upheld a law that prohibits convicted felons from voting while they are on parole, a ruling that will keep about 6,000 people from casting ballots this year. Colorado law denies felons the right to vote while they are serving their sentences, and the justices said in a unanimous opinion that parole must be considered part of a sentence.

Little noticed by voters, a nationwide melee has broken out pitting liberal and conservative groups in a duel over new laws that could determine who wins close elections in November and beyond.

A measure requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls is expected to pass the House today, marking another step in a push toward stricter scrutiny of citizenship status in the U.S. The legislation is one of a series of tightly focused bills crafted by House Republican leaders who want to strengthen border security and crack down on illegal immigration. Its sponsor, Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), calls it a safeguard against voter fraud.

Voters will not be required to show a picture ID at state polling places after the elections board decided in Atlanta not to hasten its appeal of a judge's decision that threw out the identification law. A majority of the elections board members said they believed it was too late to try to get the decision overturned. Absentee voting begins Monday for the Nov. 7 general election.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked enforcement of a state law that requires voters to show identification and would-be voters to submit proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The general election is Nov. 7, and the deadline to register is Monday. The law had already been used for the Sept. 12 primary and in some municipal elections. State Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard said he would appeal.

Orange County Republican leaders urged their own congressional candidate to withdraw from the race Thursday after he acknowledged that his campaign was involved in sending out a letter intended to scare off Latino voters. Tan Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant waging an uphill battle against a longtime Democratic incumbent in central Orange County, faced a battery of questions from state attorney general's investigators and possible civil and criminal liability for voting rights violations.

The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for Arizona to enforce a new rule for next month's election that requires most voters to show proof of identification before casting a ballot. In an unsigned and apparently unanimous opinion, the justices reversed a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that had blocked the Arizona law from taking effect this year. The justices emphasized that they were not ruling on the still-pending constitutional challenge to the law.

About 1.5 million convicted felons who have completed their sentences are still denied the right to vote, according to a report released today. Unlike the District of Columbia and 34 states, including California, where voting rights are automatically restored to convicted felons who have completed their sentences, 14 states severely restrict -- or even prohibit -- onetime prisoners from casting ballots.

Re "States Limit Ex-Cons' Voting Rights, Report Says," Feb. 16: I am not a lawyer, but it is my understanding that loss of the franchise stems from British common law. Its motivation is that a felon, having broken the "social compact," has relinquished the right to take part in the civilized process of voting. The loss of voting rights is part of the punishment for having committed a felony. What we need is a constitutional amendment making it clear that convicted felons may not vote.