DRUG, ALCOHOL CONVICTS CAN VOTE FROM PRISON

Many state prisoners convicted of drug and alcohol felonies may be
eligible to vote, even while incarcerated, though they probably don't
know it.

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles announced Wednesday that under
a 1996 amendment to the Alabama constitution, inmates convicted of
DUIs or drug possession alone never lose their voting rights --
despite the common belief that felons are prohibited from casting ballots.

"Everybody thought anyone convicted of a felony lost the right to
vote," said Cynthia Dillard, assistant director for the pardons and
paroles board.

Dillard said the parole board looked into the issue after hearing
about a Pell City prosecutor trying to charge an inmate who attempted
to vote in last November's elections. The board received a March 18
advisory opinion from Attorney General Troy King, who said only those
felonies involving "moral turpitude" -- meaning the crimes are
inherently immoral -- disqualify a convict from voting.

The finding caught state voting officials off guard, prompting a
request by Secretary of State Nancy Worley to King seeking a
comprehensive list of crimes that forfeit voting rights and those that
don't.

"A uniform listing of felonies involving moral turpitude should be
established, distributed and publicly posted in order to avoid
different interpretations in each county," Worley said in a statement
Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for King said Wednesday the request was being
researched, but would not elaborate.

Voting officials also were trying to determine whether any names were
improperly removed from the state list of registered voters.

Prison system and voting officials were uncertain how many inmates
would be affected. More than 2,250 inmates were in prison for drug
possession and about 640 were serving time for felony DUI as their
most serious offenses, according to Dec. 31, 2004 figures by the
Alabama Sentencing Commission.

It's unclear how many of those inmates were registered to vote and the
prison system has not encountered any prisoners trying to vote, said
DOC spokesman Brian Corbett.

He said if some inmates are eligible to vote, they likely would have
to petition the circuit clerks in their home counties for absentee
ballots.

The voting amendment states that inmates convicted of a crime of moral
turpitude are ineligible to vote unless their right is restored,
typically by a certificate from the pardons and paroles board. DUI and
drug possession are prohibited by law, but not necessarily immoral,
according to King's opinion.

"This is atypical," said Marc Mauer, who has researched felon voting
laws for The Sentencing Project.

"In 48 states, generally all people in prison are not eligible to
vote," he said.

Maine and Vermont are the only two states that don't revoke voting
rights upon conviction.

Alabama also is one of 15 states that doesn't automatically restore
voting eligibility upon release from prison, Mauer said.