I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3576 

To secure the Federal voting rights of certain qualified ex-offenders who 

have served their sentences. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 

Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To secure the Federal voting rights of certain qualified exoffenders who have served their sentences. 

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 ‘‘Ex-Offenders Voting 

5 Rights Act of 2009’’. 

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 5,300,000 individuals in the 

18 United States, or 1 in 41 adults, currently cannot 

19 vote as a result of a felony conviction. Women rep20 resent about 676,000 of those 5,300,000. 

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

23 (6) Ten States disenfranchise some or all ex-of24 fenders who have fully served their sentences, re25 gardless of 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. In 2 States, for 

5 certain felonies, a pardon is required. 

6 (8) Few persons who seek to have their right to 

7 vote restored have the financial and political re8 sources needed to succeed. 

9 (9) Thirteen percent of the African-American 

10 adult male population, or 1,400,000 African-Amer11 ican men, are disenfranchised. Given current rates 

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

13 the next generation will be disenfranchised at some 

14 point during their lifetimes. Hispanic citizens are 

15 also disproportionately disenfranchised, since those 

16 citizens are disproportionately represented in the 

17 criminal justice system. 

18 (10) The discrepancies described in this sub19 section should be addressed by Congress, in the 

20 name of fundamental fairness and equal protection. 

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

22 fairness in the Federal election process by ensuring that 

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

24 denied the right to vote. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION OR FACIL4 ITY.—The term ‘‘correctional institution or facility’’ 

5 means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institu6 tion or facility for the confinement of individuals 

7 convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly or 

8 privately operated, except that such term does not 

9 include any residential community treatment center 

10 (or similar public or private facility). 

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

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

13 election; 

14 (B) a convention or caucus of a political 

15 party held to nominate a candidate; 

16 (C) a primary election held for the selec17 tion of delegates to a national nominating con18 vention of a political party; or 

19 (D) a primary election held for the expres20 sion of a preference for the nomination of per21 sons for election to the office of President. 

22 (3) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of23 fice’’ means the office of President or Vice Presi24 dent, or of Senator or Representative in, or Delegate 

25 or Resident Commissioner to, Congress. 


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

2 (including mandatory parole), or conditional or su3 pervised release (including mandatory supervised re4 lease), imposed by a Federal, State, or local court. 

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

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

7 court, with or without a condition on the individual 

8 involved concerning— 

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

10 (B) the payment of damages by the indi11 vidual; 

12 (C) periodic reporting by the individual to 

13 an officer of the court; or 

14 (D) supervision of the individual by an of15 ficer of the court. 

16 SEC. 4. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 

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

18 United States to vote in any election for Federal office 

19 shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has 

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

21 of the election, such individual— 

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

23 institution or facility; or 

24 (2) is on parole or probation for a felony of25 fense. 


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1 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT. 

2 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

3 may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdic4 tion to obtain such declaratory or injunctive relief as is 

5 necessary to remedy a violation of this Act. 

6 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

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

8 violation of this Act may provide written notice of 

9 the violation to the chief election official of the State 

10 involved. 

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

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

13 after receipt of a notice provided under paragraph 

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

15 the violation occurred within 120 days before the 

16 date of an election for Federal office, the aggrieved 

17 person may bring a civil action in such a court to 

18 obtain the declaratory or injunctive relief with re19 spect to the violation. 

20 (3) ACTION FOR VIOLATION SHORTLY BEFORE

21 A FEDERAL ELECTION.—If the violation occurred 

22 within 30 days before the date of an election for 

23 Federal office, the aggrieved person shall not be re24 quired to provide notice to the chief election official 

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


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1 civil action in such a court to obtain the declaratory 

2 or injunctive relief with respect to the violation. 

3 SEC. 6. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS. 

4 (a) NO PROHIBITION ON LESS RESTRICTIVE

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

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

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

8 restrictive than those terms established by this Act. 

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

10 and remedies established by this Act shall be in addition 

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

12 not supersede, restrict, or limit the application of the Vot13 ing Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.) or the 

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

15 1973gg et seq.). 

Æ 


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