Drew Klein

Iowa View contributor

Late last year, a large majority of lawmakers from across the ideological spectrum joined forces in Washington to send to the president’s desk the FIRST STEP Act, one of the most sweeping prison reform bills in a generation.

It happened thanks to lawmakers such as Sen. Chuck Grassley, who have shined a spotlight on various laws and practices in our federal criminal justice system that are falling short of protecting public safety, holding wrongdoers accountable and saving tax dollars.

At the state level, Iowa has been making strides on criminal justice reform over the past several years but there’s still room to improve. A good place to start is taking a look at our voting laws for ex-offenders. Iowa has the unfortunate distinction of being just one of two states that permanently disenfranchise people convicted of felonies. It’s an unnecessarily punitive practice that does little to enhance public safety or encourage ex-offenders to fully re-enter society.

According to The Sentencing Project, a non-profit advocating for a fair and effective criminal justice system, roughly 2 percent of Iowa’s population in 2016 was unable to vote because of this law.

Fortunately, a growing number of Iowans agree that it’s time to do away with this practice. Among the most prominent is Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is proposing to change Iowa’s constitution to restore voting rights to certain ex-offenders after they have completed their sentences. Felons convicted of murder or a sexual offense will never complete their sentence, but others with less serious records will. With their second chance at life, we expect those individuals to re-enter society and assume the responsibilities associated with taking care of their family and finding meaningful work. Restoring their right to vote is about restoring their full sense of what it means to be a citizen and contribute to their communities.

Other states, including Florida, are proving it’s possible to balance public safety and tailor punishments proportional to the crime committed. At the end of 2018, Florida voters approved a ballot measure restoring voting rights to Floridians with felony convictions. According to one estimate, 1 million Floridians with felony records will benefit from this change to the law.

Here in Iowa, the only way an ex-offender can have voting rights restored is by directly petitioning the governor – an onerous, complicated and time-consuming process.

Gov. Reynolds’ proposed constitutional amendment has the support of groups representing the ideological spectrum, from Christian faith leaders and the Iowa Catholic Conference to The Iowa League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

The measure needs the approval of two consecutive Iowa General Assemblies before going up for a vote before Iowa voters in a referendum.

The difficulty of the task should not discourage Iowa lawmakers from doing the right thing. Years of research tells us that there is scant evidence that permanently banning ex-offenders from voting leads to enhanced public safety. Kentucky and Indiana both saw their crime rates drop by approximately the same amount between 2008 and 2016, despite having two very different approaches to restoring felon voting rights.

Behind the numbers are stories of real individuals who are looking for a measure of mercy from policymakers. Recently, an Iowa man whose voting rights were restored following Gov. Reynolds' order said: “I can’t even begin to tell you the dignity that I felt because I had gotten my life back, to be able to go in and vote.”

The time has come to extend dignity to even more Iowans who have paid their debt to society. Gov. Reynolds’ proposal correctly balances the need to protect public safety and hold wrongdoers accountable, while also removing a clear barrier preventing folks from truly re-entering their communities.

Drew Klein is Iowa state director at Americans for Prosperity.