SOME FELONS NEVER LOST RIGHT TO VOTE

MOULTON - If you're not voting because of a felony driving under the
influence conviction, you may be surprised to learn you never lost your
voting rights - at least not during the past nine years.

That's the opinion of the Alabama attorney general, issued March 18.

It reinforces a law that says felony convictions for crimes such as
marijuana possession and assault do not preclude residents from voting.

'Moral Turpitude'

Those crimes, and others like them, do not involve "moral turpitude" and
the state Legislature excluded them in 1996 from the law prohibiting felons
from voting

The attorney general issued the opinion in response to a question from
William C. Segrest. He is executive director of the state Board of Pardons
and Paroles.

"Based on this, you have some people in prison who are eligible to vote,"
said Greg Griffin, chief legal counsel for Pardons and Paroles. "If it
doesn't involve moral turpitude, they have not lost their right to vote.
There are lots of people out there who don't know they are eligible to vote."

Pardons and Paroles officials didn't even know the law existed.

"We discovered in our research that the law had changed," Griffin said.

"We said, 'Hey, look at this.' Everybody was operating under the rule that
you had to ask the board to restore your voting rights."