Bill Smith / CC
An estimated 36,000 convicted felons who’ve been out of jail for at least five years can now register to vote thanks to a state law that went into effect March 1st. To register, an eligible felon must get a certification letter from Probation and Parole. Voters Organized to Educate Director Checo Yancy says it took five years of lobbying, but…
“I’ve been out of prison for 16 years now, did everything i was supposed to do, and testified before the committee. Some people say it’s a privilege, but it’s a right, I’m a veteran.”
Yancy was released from Angola in 2003 after serving 20 years in prison.
The law re-enfranchising those Louisiana felons was passed in last year’s spring session. Yancy says you can’t really be a fully citizen of a nation if you don’t have the right to vote for your representatives.
“Each year that I went before the legislature and committees, I pay taxes and my taxes paid their salaries, but nobody up there represented me.”
There’s been a national push to re-enfranchise felons, including an effort in Florida that overwhelmingly passed at the ballot last year.
Some initial estimates put the number of people eligible for the law at 2,000, but advocates say that number is much larger. Yancy says while tens of thousands of people may be newly eligible, they’re still working to get them back into the democratic process.
“Although we did all of this pushing and fighting to get it, now we have to get people out, not only to register, but we have to get people to the polls.”
