WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — A Washington County group is working to help restore voting rights to felons who have served their time.
“Getting voting rights and voting access is something small, but at least it's a step forward," said Kenny Grand, a member of the Citizens for Redemption Coalition.
The Washington County group is looking to place a measure on the November 2024 ballot that would ease the process of voting for re-entering felons. According to them, they have been approved to begin gathering signatures.
According to Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution, a person loses their right to vote once convicted of a felony. Once released, that person must then gather documents and submit them to the county clerk, proving they had served their time and paid all applicable dues.
"Currently, at this moment, the convicted felon would be required to submit paperwork when they register to vote, showing that they had done all of those things,” said the Director of Elections for Washington County Jennifer Price.
According to a press release, the Citizens for Redemption Coalition is hoping to streamline this process by requiring a felon to fill out an affidavit of information and have the county clerk gather the information to make sure the felon completed all tasks necessary to register to vote.
"The idea behind the initiative would be that the person registering to vote would not be required to produce those documents,” Price said. “It would then transfer to the County Clerk's office to have those documents."
Grand said the ballot measure would help the burden of someone looking to regain their voting rights, a process he says is more difficult than it has to be.
“The process is so, so difficult for people who have done their time and gone through the process,” Grand said.
According to the press release, the Citizens for Redemption Coalition hopes to gather 10,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot.
The group has until 90 days before the November election to complete this process, according to Price.
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