Who Can and Can’t Vote in Mississippi: A Guide to the State’s Lifetime Voting Ban

For greater than a century, Mississippi has imposed a lifetime voting ban on folks convicted of assorted offenses, together with arson, forgery and bigamy. Known as “disenfranchisement,” the removing of a citizen’s proper to vote by way of conviction is rooted within the state’s 1890 structure.

The structure’s drafters freely admitted that the disenfranchisement clause focused Black voters to scale back their political energy following the top of Reconstruction. The record of offenses has expanded through the years.

For a lot of, the disenfranchisement legal guidelines will be complicated. Contact your county’s election administrator to find out in the event you can vote or register to vote based mostly in your conviction.

Now, for the primary time in over a decade, a bipartisan group of legislators desires to revive voting rights to hundreds of state residents, with the conservative management of the state Home of Representatives backing the trouble.

Additionally, a number of lawsuits in recent times in federal court docket sought to overturn disenfranchisement, thus far with out success.

An estimated 50,000 folks from 1994 by way of 2017 have misplaced their voting rights by way of conviction in state court docket, in keeping with a 2018 examine commissioned by plaintiffs who sued to overturn the disenfranchisement legislation.

Almost 60% of people that misplaced their proper to vote are Black, the examine discovered. Mississippi’s grownup Black inhabitants was at 36% in 2020, in keeping with the U.S. census.

How does Mississippi’s present disenfranchisement system work? And the way might lawmakers change it? The Marshall Mission – Jackson interviewed consultants and legal professionals, and reviewed paperwork to reply key questions.

If I’m convicted of a felony in Mississippi, do I lose my proper to vote?

Just some convictions in state court docket will take away an individual’s proper to vote, even after they’re launched from jail. Many different felony convictions, nonetheless, don’t take away voting rights, together with assault, housebreaking and drug-related crimes.

Which felony crimes will result in the lack of voting rights?

The Mississippi Structure lists 10 basic crimes which can be disenfranchising: homicide, rape, bribery, theft, arson, acquiring cash or items beneath false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement and bigamy.

As we speak, state officers interpret that constitutional record to incorporate 22 broad felony classes and about 100 completely different particular charging statutes, together with timber theft, felony shoplifting and writing a nasty verify. See the complete record of offenses right here.

If I’ve been convicted however I feel I can vote, or register to vote, who would I contact to make sure of my rights?

Every county’s circuit clerk administers the voter registration course of and makes the ultimate dedication about an individual’s eligibility to register to vote. You will discover your county’s election administrator by way of the state Secretary of State’s workplace.

Has disenfranchisement been challenged in court docket?

A number of lawsuits have requested federal judges to search out all or components of the state’s disenfranchisement system unconstitutional. One lawsuit stays lively, and a ruling from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals is pending.

If I’ve been disenfranchised, is there any means I can regain my proper to vote?

An individual’s voting proper will be restored by The Mississippi Legislature. This has traditionally meant {that a} lawmaker should file a restoration invoice for the person, after which the invoice should be handed by each homes of the Legislature and accepted or allowed to develop into legislation by the governor. Since 1997, solely about 200 folks have had their voting rights restored by way of this course of.

Do some state lawmakers need to change the state’s disenfranchisement system?

The Mississippi Home of Representatives overwhelmingly handed a invoice in March 2024 to permit people who find themselves convicted of some disenfranchising crimes to robotically regain their proper to vote both 5 years after conviction or 5 years after launch from jail, whichever is later. To develop into legislation, the invoice should be accepted by the state Senate, the place help for the invoice is unclear. If it passes the higher chamber, the governor might signal it, enable it to develop into legislation with out his signature or veto it.

Below the Home plan, would some crimes nonetheless be disenfranchising?

Sure, the Home invoice would retain everlasting disenfranchisement for the next crimes: Arson, armed theft, carjacking, embezzlement of $5,000 or extra, homicide, rape, statutory rape and vote fraud. The Legislature would nonetheless have the facility to individually restore voting rights.

If I’m convicted of against the law that’s not disenfranchising, can I vote from jail whereas serving my sentence?

Legally, sure. In follow, nonetheless, the method will be tough to navigate, in keeping with advocates who’ve accomplished voter training work in state prisons. This information from voting advocates has extra element on solid a poll from jail.

What if my conviction has been expunged?

Some native election officers deal with expungements as restoring an individual’s proper to vote, and a few don’t, in keeping with a former state Rep. Nick Bain, who fought for a legislation to make clear that difficulty. The Legislature handed a invoice in 2022 to make clear that expungement ought to restore somebody’s voting rights, however Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed it. The difficulty stays legally murky and continues to be dealt with inconsistently, in keeping with attorneys. Most of the disenfranchising crimes famous under are usually not eligible for expungement.

What if I’m convicted of against the law in federal court docket? Or outdoors the state of Mississippi?

A felony conviction in federal court docket or a state court docket outdoors Mississippi is not going to take away the best to vote, even when the federal crime could be disenfranchising if the conviction occurred in state court docket.

What if I’ve been charged with a disenfranchising crime, however not but been convicted?

An individual just isn’t disenfranchised except convicted.

Checklist of disenfranchising statutes

Under is the record of Mississippi disenfranchising statutes compiled by The Marshall Mission – Jackson, based mostly on data from the Mississippi Middle for Justice, Southern Poverty Regulation Middle, Mississippi Votes and the Mississippi Secretary of State’s disenfranchisement record.

In case you had been convicted of a number of of those offenses, you probably wouldn’t be capable of vote or register to vote in a Mississippi election. Test together with your county’s election administrator, who will be discovered by way of the state Secretary of State’s workplace.

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