PROPOSED BALLOT INITIATIVE WOULD ALLOW FELONS IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS TO VOTE

KTLA 5
August 23, 2017

Felons in state prison would be allowed to vote in California elections under a ballot measure proposed Wednesday by a group representing prisoners, their families and supporters.

The constitutional amendment was filed on Wednesday by Initiate Justice, an Oakland-based group that seeks criminal justice system changes for about 2,500 people behind bars and 1,000 supporters on the outside, according to founder and executive director Taina Vargas-Edmond.

“They (prisoners) don’t lose their citizenship when they become arrested,” Vargas-Edmond said. “I don’t believe they should lose their access to their democracy.”

The group needs 585,407 valid voter signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot, a difficult task for a largely grass-roots effort.

EDITOR’S NOTE: No biggie. Let them vote. The turn out will be nearly 199 percent. They’ve got nothing better to do and they’ll think it gives them another leg up on parole. And yes, they’ll nearly all vote for Democrats, especially those on death row.