REPORT: 1.4M BLACK MEN CAN'T VOTE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Because they are convicted felons, 13 percent of black
men cannot vote in this year's elections, a new report says.

Some of those 1.4 million black men are in prison, but others are on
probation or parole or have served their sentences, according to the report
released Thursday by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project.

Nationwide, 3.9 million people -- or one in 50 adults -- are temporarily or
permanently disenfranchised because of a felony conviction, the research and
advocacy groups concluded.

Their state-by-state survey of voting laws for felons shows the greatest
percentages of disenfranchised black men are in Alabama and Florida, where
one in three cannot vote.

Laws on voting rights for criminals differ among the states. All but four --
Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Utah -- bar prisoners from voting. Other
states suspend voting rights until a felon has completed probation or
parole.

Fourteen states take away some or all felons' voting rights permanently:
Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi,
Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

In Texas, voting rights are suspended for two years after a sentence is
completed.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst