He serves as the captain of his neighborhood watch group. He owns a house with his wife of 10 years. Yet while Mr. Sabree holds himself up as an example of good citizenship to the wayward of his community, he said, he cannot exercise the fundamental right of a citizen. As a convicted felon, Mr. Sabree is barred from voting for the rest of his life under Alabama law.
Voting is a right.
In this state, however, it is not a right for nearly a third of all black men because they have felony convictions, according to a recent study. About 7 percent of African-Americans are barred from voting because of felony convictions, compared with 2.1 percent of the general population, the study found, using 1998 prison and parole figures. Americans, civil rights advocates are increasingly focusing on these laws, saying that they unfairly shut out a growing number of blacks from the electoral system. In Florida earlier this month, a group of ex-felons filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging that the state law excludes black voters and thus violates the Voting Rights Act. In Alabama earlier this year, legislators rejected a bill to automatically restore voting rights to ex-felons.