‘THE TRUTH ABOUT VOTING WITH A CRIMINAL RECORD IN CALIFORNIA’

Courtesy of EAST BAY  COMMUNITY LAW CENTER via an attorney friend of mine.

 

"I have a felony conviction or juvenile adjudication on my record.  Can I still vote?    YES !

As long as you are at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, out of prison and off felony parole.

                                                                                                                                                                  

Can I vote while I'm on probation?        YES !

You can vote even if your are currently on probation, regardless of whether your conviction is for a felony or misdemeanor, or your probation is supervised(felony or formal probation or banked) or unsupervised (court or misdemeanor probation).      

                                                                                                                                                                  

Can I vote even if I've been to prison in the past?     YES !
As long as you are out of prison and off felony parole now, you are eligible to vote.      

                                                                                                                                                                    

 Can I vote if I am currently in jail?     YES !

You can vote if you are in jail serving a sentence for a misdemeanor or a felony conviction that did not result in a prison sentence.  Ask a friend or family member to send a voter registration form and request an absentee ballot to vote by mail.  Use your jail address if you will be in jail on election day; use your home address if you will be released before election day.  

                                                                                                                                                                    

I have a pending felony charge.  Can still vote?   YES !

You can vote even if you are currently charged with a felony if you have not been convicted and sentenced to state prison.

                                                                                                                                                                    

 Do my civil rights have to be restored after my release from prison or parole before I can vote?  Do I need to go before a judge?      NO !

There is nothing you need to do to restore your voting rights once you are off felony parole.  Just register or re-register to vote.  Go to registertovote.gov"

                                                                                                                                                                    

I had the opportunity to  ask couple of the above questions to some staff in the Election Department and luckily they knew with whom to check because they did not know the answers to the  questions i posed.

I have never heard a public service announcement about the above voting rights.  I have spoken to felons who have been most pleasant to me and they were surprised they could vote.

Please let's spread the truth about voting rights to Californian with a criminal record.

 

M E Gladis,

member of People Power an off-shoot of ACLU organized to get people to vote!