I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1300

To ensure the Federal voting rights of persons who have been released 

from incarceration. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 15, 2005

Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, 

Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, 

Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. LEE, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. 

MEEKS of New York, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. RUSH, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WATT, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL

To ensure the Federal voting rights of persons who have 

been released from incarceration.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Civic Participation and 

5 Rehabilitation Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) The right to vote is the most basic constitu2 tive act of citizenship and regaining the right to vote 

3 reintegrates offenders into free society. The right to 

4 vote may not be abridged or denied by the United 

5 States or by any State on account of race, color, 

6 gender or previous condition of servitude. Basic con7 stitutional principles of fairness and equal protection 

8 require an equal opportunity for Americans to vote 

9 in Federal elections. Congress has ultimate super10 visory power over Federal elections, an authority 

11 which has repeatedly been upheld by the Supreme 

12 Court. 

13 (2) Congress finds three areas where discrep14 ancies in State laws regarding felony convictions 

15 lead to unfairness in Federal elections: (A) there is 

16 no uniform standard for voting in Federal elections 

17 which leads to an unfair disparity and unequal par18 ticipation in Federal elections based solely on where 

19 a person lives; (B) laws governing the restoration of 

20 voting rights after a felony conviction are unequal 

21 throughout the country and persons in some States 

22 can easily regain their voting rights while in other 

23 States persons effectively lose their right to vote per24 manently; and (C) State disenfranchisement laws 

25 disproportionately impact ethnic minorities. 
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1 (3) Although State law determines the quali2 fications for voting, Congress must ensure that those 

3 laws are in accordance with the Constitution. Cur4 rent laws vary throughout the country resulting in 

5 discrepancies regarding which citizens may vote in 

6 Federal elections. 

7 (4) An estimated 4,700,000 Americans, or one 

8 in 44 adults, currently cannot vote as a result of a 

9 felony conviction. Women represent 676,730 of this 

10 total. Disenfranchisement results from varying State 

11 laws that restrict voting while under some form of 

12 criminal justice supervision or after the completion 

13 of a felony sentence in some States. Two States do 

14 not disenfranchise felons at all (Maine and 

15 Vermont). Forty-eight States and the District of Co16 lumbia have disenfranchisement laws that deprive 

17 convicted offenders of the right to vote while they 

18 are in prison. In thirty-five States, convicted offend19 ers may not vote while they are on parole and in 

20 thirty-one States probationers may not vote. Six 

21 States disenfranchise ex-offenders who have fully 

22 served their sentences, regardless of the nature or 

23 seriousness of the offense. 1,700,000 of the 

24 4,700,000 disqualified voters are not in prison, but 

25 are on probation, parole or are ex-offenders. 
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1 (5) In those States that disenfranchise ex-of2 fenders, the right to vote can be regained in theory, 

3 but in practice this possibility is often illusory. In 

4 fourteen States, a pardon or order from the Gov5 ernor or a parole or pardon board is required. Of6 fenders convicted of a Federal offense often have ad7 ditional barriers to regaining voting rights. In some 

8 States, Federal offenders cannot use the State pro9 cedure for restoring their civil rights. The only 

10 method provided by Federal law for restoring voting 

11 rights to ex-offenders is a Presidential pardon. Few 

12 persons who seek to have their right to vote restored 

13 have the financial and political resources needed to 

14 succeed. 

15 (6) Thirteen percent of the African American 

16 adult male population, or 1,400,000 African Amer17 ican men, are disenfranchised. Given current rates 

18 of incarceration, three in ten of the next generation 

19 of black men will be disenfranchised at some point 

20 during their lifetime. Hispanic citizens are also dis21 proportionately disenfranchised since they are dis22 proportionately represented in the criminal justice 

23 system. 

24 (7) These discrepancies should be addressed by 

25 Congress. Basic concepts of fundamental fairness 
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1 and equal protection require an equal opportunity 

2 for Americans to vote in Federal elections. This Act 

3 will restore fairness in the Federal election process 

4 and promote reintegration of former offenders into 

5 a life as law abiding citizens of the United States. 

6 SEC. 3. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 

7 The right of an individual who is a citizen of the 

8 United States to vote in any election for Federal office 

9 shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has 

10 been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual 

11 is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution 

12 or facility at the time of the election. 

13 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

14 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

15 may, in a civil action, obtain such declaratory or injunctive 

16 relief as is necessary to remedy a violation of this Act. 

17 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—(1) A person who 

18 is aggrieved by a violation of this Act may provide written 

19 notice of the violation to the chief election official of the 

20 State involved. 

21 (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), if the viola22 tion is not corrected within 90 days after receipt of a no23 tice under paragraph (1), or within 20 days after receipt 

24 of the notice if the violation occurred within 120 days be25 fore the date of an election for Federal office, the ag-
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1 grieved person may, in a civil action obtain declaratory 

2 or injunctive relief with respect to the violation. 

3 (3) If the violation occurred within 30 days before 

4 the date of an election for Federal office, the aggrieved 

5 person need not provide notice to the chief election official 

6 of the State under paragraph (1) before bringing a civil 

7 action to obtain declaratory or injunctive relief with re8 spect to the violation. 

9 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

10 For purposes of this Act—

11 (1) the term ‘‘correctional institution or facil12 ity’’ means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other in13 stitution or facility for the confinement of individ14 uals convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly 

15 or privately operated, except that such term does not 

16 include any residential community treatment center 

17 (or similar public or private facility); 

18 (2) the term ‘‘election’’ means—

19 (A) a general, special, primary, or runoff 

20 election; 

21 (B) a convention or caucus of a political 

22 party held to nominate a candidate; 

23 (C) a primary election held for the selec24 tion of delegates to a national nominating con25 vention of a political party; or 
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1 (D) a primary election held for the expres2 sion of a preference for the nomination of per3 sons for election to the office of President; and 

4 (3) the term ‘‘Federal office’’ means the office 

5 of President or Vice President of the United States, 

6 or of Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or 

7 Resident Commissioner to, the Congress of the 

8 United States. 

9 SEC. 6. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS. 

10 (a) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit 

11 the States enacting any State law which affords the right 

12 to vote in any election for Federal office on terms less 

13 restrictive than those established by this Act. 

14 (b) The rights and remedies established by this Act 

15 are in addition to all other rights and remedies provided 

16 by law, and neither rights and remedies established by this 

17 Act shall supersede, restrict, or limit the application of 

18 the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.) 

19 or the National Voter Registration Act (42 U.S.C. 1973–

20 gg). 

21 SEC. 7. FEDERAL PRISON FUNDS. 

22 No State, unit of local government, or other person 

23 may receive or use, to construct or otherwise improve a 

24 prison, jail, or other place of incarceration, any Federal 

25 grant amounts unless that person has in effect a program 
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1 under which each individual incarcerated in that person’s 

2 jurisdiction who is a citizen of the United States is noti3 fied, upon release from such incarceration, of that individ4 ual’s rights under section 3.

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