II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2666

To secure the Federal voting rights of persons who have fully served their

sentences, including parole and probation, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 25, 2000

Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To secure the Federal voting rights of persons who have

fully served their sentences, including parole and probation, and for other purposes.

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 Act

5 of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings:

9 (1) The right to vote is the most basic constitu10 tive act of citizenship and regaining the right to vote
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1 reintegrates offenders into free society. The right to

2 vote may not be abridged or denied by the United

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

4 gender, or previous condition of servitude. Basic con5 stitutional principles of fairness and equal protection

6 require an equal opportunity for United States citi7 zens to vote in Federal elections.

8 (2) Congress has ultimate supervisory power

9 over Federal elections, an authority that has repeat10 edly been upheld by the Supreme Court.

11 (3) Although State laws determine the quali12 fications for voting in Federal elections, Congress

13 must ensure that those laws are in accordance with

14 the Constitution. Currently, those laws vary

15 throughout the Nation, resulting in discrepancies re16 garding which citizens may vote in Federal elections.

17 (4) An estimated 3,900,000 individuals in the

18 United States, or 1 in 50 adults, currently cannot

19 vote as a result of a felony conviction. Women rep20 resent about 500,000 of those 3,900,000.

21 (5) State disenfranchisement laws dispropor22 tionately impact ethnic minorities.

23 (6) Fourteen States disenfranchise ex-offenders

24 who have fully served their sentences, regardless of

25 the nature or seriousness of the offense.
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1 (7) In those States that disenfranchise ex-of2 fenders who have fully served their sentences, the

3 right to vote can be regained in theory, but in prac4 tice this possibility is often illusory.

5 (8) In 8 States, a pardon or order from the

6 Governor is required for an ex-offender to regain the

7 right to vote. In 2 States, ex-offenders must obtain

8 action by the parole or pardon board to regain that

9 right.

10 (9) Offenders convicted of a Federal offense

11 often have additional barriers to regaining voting

12 rights. In at least 16 States, Federal ex-offenders

13 cannot use the State procedure for restoring their

14 voting rights. The only method provided by Federal

15 law for restoring voting rights to ex-offenders is a

16 Presidential pardon.

17 (10) Few persons who seek to have their right

18 to vote restored have the financial and political re19 sources needed to succeed.

20 (11) Thirteen percent of the African-American

21 adult male population, or 1,400,000 African-Amer22 ican men, are disenfranchised. Given current rates

23 of incarceration, 3 in 10 African-American men in

24 the next generation will be disenfranchised at some

25 point during their lifetimes. Hispanic citizens are
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1 also disproportionately disenfranchised, since those

2 citizens are disproportionately represented in the

3 criminal justice system.

4 (12) The discrepancies described in this sub5 section should be addressed by Congress, in the

6 name of fundamental fairness and equal protection.

7 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to restore

8 fairness in the Federal election process by ensuring that

9 ex-offenders who have fully served their sentences are not

10 denied the right to vote.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION OR FACIL14 ITY.—The term ‘‘correctional institution or facility’’

15 means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institu16 tion or facility for the confinement of individuals

17 convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly or

18 privately operated, except that such term does not

19 include any residential community treatment center

20 (or similar public or private facility).

21 (2) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ means—

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

23 election;

24 (B) a convention or caucus of a political

25 party held to nominate a candidate;
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1 (C) a primary election held for the selec2 tion of delegates to a national nominating con3 vention of a political party; or

4 (D) a primary election held for the expres5 sion of a preference for the nomination of per6 sons for election to the office of President.

7 (3) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of8 fice’’ means the office of President or Vice Presi9 dent, or of Senator or Representative in, or Delegate

10 or Resident Commissioner to, Congress.

11 (4) PAROLE.—The term ‘‘parole’’ means parole

12 (including mandatory parole), or conditional or su13 pervised release (including mandatory supervised re14 lease), imposed by a Federal, State, or local court.

15 (5) PROBATION.—The term ‘‘probation’’ means

16 probation, imposed by a Federal, State, or local

17 court, with or without a condition on the individual

18 involved concerning—

19 (A) the individual’s freedom of movement;

20 (B) the payment of damages by the indi21 vidual;

22 (C) periodic reporting by the individual to

23 an officer of the court; or

24 (D) supervision of the individual by an of25 ficer of the court.
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1 SEC. 4. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS.

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

3 United States to vote in any election for Federal office

4 shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has

5 been convicted of a criminal offense unless, at the time

6 of the election, such individual—

7 (1) is serving a felony sentence in a correctional

8 institution or facility; or

9 (2) is on parole or probation for a felony of10 fense.

11 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.

12 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General

13 may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdic14 tion to obtain such declaratory or injunctive relief as is

15 necessary to remedy a violation of this Act.

16 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—

17 (1) NOTICE.—A person who is aggrieved by a

18 violation of this Act may provide written notice of

19 the violation to the chief election official of the State

20 involved.

21 (2) ACTION.—Except as provided in paragraph

22 (3), if the violation is not corrected within 90 days

23 after receipt of a notice provided under paragraph

24 (1), or within 20 days after receipt of the notice if

25 the violation occurred within 120 days before the

26 date of an election for Federal office, the aggrieved
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1 person may bring a civil action in such a court to

2 obtain the declaratory or injunctive relief with re3 spect to the violation.

4 (3) ACTION FOR VIOLATION SHORTLY BEFORE

5 A FEDERAL ELECTION.—If the violation occurred

6 within 30 days before the date of an election for

7 Federal office, the aggrieved person shall not be re8 quired to provide notice to the chief election official

9 of the State under paragraph (1) before bringing a

10 civil action in such a court to obtain the declaratory

11 or injunctive relief with respect to the violation.

12 SEC. 6. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.

13 (a) NO PROHIBITION ON LESS RESTRICTIVE

14 LAWS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit

15 a State from enacting any State law that affords the right

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

17 restrictive than those terms established by this Act.

18 (b) NO LIMITATION ON OTHER LAWS.—The rights

19 and remedies established by this Act shall be in addition

20 to all other rights and remedies provided by law, and shall

21 not supersede, restrict, or limit the application of the Vot22 ing Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.) or the

23 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C.

24 1973gg et seq.).

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