Seth A. Richardson

srichardson@rgj.com

In November, more than 1.1 million people voted in Nevada for a turnout percentage of around 77 percent, but one group was barred from participating from the beginning.

Voter disenfranchisement has been a hot topic in recent years, especially as more reports show certain laws affect minorities and low-income people disproportionately. Washoe County faced a voter disenfranchisement lawsuit in 2016 when the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe successfully sued for access to polling places.

Now the discussion at the Legislature has shifted to making it easier for ex-felons to vote after serving their sentences.

Current Nevada law allows first-time nonviolent ex-felons to have their voting rights restored after they serve their sentence or been discharged from parole or probation. A multiple offender must go through the judicial process to have their rights restored.

Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson and Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, both Las Vegas Democrats, think that’s a problem. Both caucus leaders introduced bills that would more easily restore the civil rights of offenders.

“The impetus for this bill came from bipartisan bills proposed by U.S. Sens. Rand Paul, whom everyone can acknowledge as a staunch conservative, and Cory Booker, whom everyone can acknowledge is not,” Ford said during testimony before a Nevada Senate committee.

But restoring the rights of ex-felons is a touchy subject, especially with politicians who are often leery of being seen as soft on crime – or just outright opposed.

Who are felons?

Felony is a broad term encompassing a number of crimes with a range of punishments. They're separated in categories ranked from A to E.

Category A is the most serious with crimes like murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and mass trafficking of drugs that often carry long prison sentences or the death penalty.

Category E is the least serious including crimes like unlawful practice of law, elections violations and drug possession, but also some first offenses such as soliciting a child for prostitution. Sentences are between one and four years.

There are currently around 90,000 people in Nevada whose rights are stripped in some way, Frierson said.

When offenders are convicted of a felony, they lose several of their rights – the ability to vote, serve on juries and restrictions on running for public office.

First-time nonviolent offenders can have their voting rights restored immediately upon completion of parole or probation, so long as they are honorably discharged without violations. Repeat and past violent offenders must have them restored either by judicial or executive action – a court order or a pardon.

The restoration of voting rights varies state by state. Maine and Vermont never take away voting rights, even while someone is incarcerated. California also allows felons in jail, but not prison, to vote. Other states allow the rights to be restored after their completion of the sentence.

‘I believe this will result in people appreciating what they’ve lost and gained back’

Frierson’s bill would immediately restore the rights of ex-felons convicted of non-violent crimes after they serve their sentence or are discharged from parole or probation, regardless of whether that was honorably or dishonorably. They could vote, serve on a civil trial jury, run for office after four years and serve on a criminal trial jury after six years.

Ford’s bill is similar and would restore rights either after completion of probation or parole or one year after their term, whichever comes first. It also decreases the wait time before they can ask the court to seal their records.

Those ideas chafed some lawmakers.

“They are rapists, murderers, serious violent offenders and I have a really hard time believing the citizens of Nevada are saying, ‘Boy, I hope these people get their right to vote,’” said Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks.

Frierson argued a lifelong revocation of rights is tantamount to ostracizing them from society as a whole. If they get those rights back, they could grasp what they’ve lost more, possibly leading to a less of a chance of recidivism and a more productive life, he said.

“It’s a lot to ask a felon to come out of prison after however many years,” he said. “I believe this will result in people appreciating what they’ve lost and gained back.”

A further problem arises with one of the provisions for having rights reinstated, Frierson said. Under current law, a person who is dishonorably discharged from parole or probation isn’t eligible.

Probationers and parolees can be dishonorably discharged by committing a new crime while under supervision, but there are a number of reasons why people might be dishonorably discharged: a failed drug test, failure to pay restitution, violating curfew or an inability to pay the $30 per month supervision fee.

“Because of those technical violations, it often results in, I think, a disproportionate level of punishment for what is often a nonviolent offense or something they did when they were young and learned their lessons,” Frierson said.

Typically, a person who violates probation or parole by committing another crime would likely end up back in custody, Frierson said.

Incarceration nation

The United States by far has the largest prison population of developed countries. Statistics from the World Prison Brief, an online collection of prison studies, show the United States’ prison population at 2,145,100, far outranking China at 1,649,804 despite America having 1 billion fewer people.

America also outranks other developed nations in terms of the incarceration rate – the number of incarcerated people out of 100,000 – according to a 2016 report from the Prison Policy Initiative, a criminal justice think tank in Massachusetts. America’s incarceration rate 693 while China’s is 118.

Nevada is above average in terms of the incarceration rate of states with 724 according to the same report. That’s higher than other countries like Turkmenistan, El Salvador, Cuba, Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, but lower than most states in the South where the prison population is concentrated.

Minorities are disproportionately affected by incarceration and far outpace whites in terms of imprisonment and felony convictions. Minorities are also frequently found to have a higher rate of recidivism.

Ford addressed this when he presented his bill.

“As an African American, I feel duty bound to speak truth to power from my perceived position of power to address what I consider injustices that African Americans have faced in this instance in the criminal justice system and the restoration of rights or lack thereof within that system,” he said.

However, both Ford and Frierson said the bill was not about race, as did Donald Gallimore, second vice president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP who testified in favor.

A 2007 report from The Sentencing Project, a policy and advocacy center in Washington, showed Nevada incarcerates both blacks and whites at a higher rate. Blacks in Nevada were incarcerated at 1.27 times the national average of blacks while whites in Nevada were incarcerated at 1.52 times the national average of whites.

Gallimore said studies show Nevada's growing minority population is near the bottom of the list in terms of states with significant growth. Most of that growth is concentrated in Clark County as well, he said.

“Income is your basic baseline because, in a way, we’re more weighted towards white incarceration,” he said.

Youth are also inordinately affected, Frierson said. A 2014 study from The Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, found the majority of criminal offenders are younger than 30.

Being labeled and disenfranchised from such a young age leaves offenders in a perpetual state of hopelessness, making it harder for them to reintegrate into society, Frierson said.

‘Carrots and sticks’

Several organizations have announced their support for the bills, either overall or with amendments, including the Reno-Sparks NAACP, the Nevada District Attorneys’ Association and the public defender’s offices of Clark and Washoe counties.

“We often hear that both carrots and sticks are important,” said John Jones, a lobbyist for the Nevada District Attorneys’ Association. “We find it important to show a light at the end of the tunnel.”

The secretary of state’s office testified neutral on the bill.

Democrats have enough votes to pass the bills out of the Legislature if it comes down to a party line vote, but whether Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval would sign the measure is somewhat murkier.

Sandoval, a former attorney general and federal judge, vetoed a similar bill in 2011 that would have restored voting rights for ex-felons upon finishing their sentence and did not give a definitive answer when asked about the bills.

“On many of these reforms associated with the justice system, those are things I told the speaker I look forward to working with him on those,” Sandoval said.

Seth A. Richardson covers politics for the Reno Gazette-Journal. Like him on Facebook here or follow him on Twitter at @SethARichardson.