In fact, the early 1900s saw the dramatic expansion of laws to disenfranchise offenders as part of the post-reconstruction project to disenfranchise black Americans. Too many of these Jim Crow laws are still in place today — and given the inequities in our modern criminal justice system, we are achieving the same goal. Danielle presents at conferences across the country, including training on federal suffrage by the Voting Rights Institute, a CLC project, the American Constitution Society, and Georgetown Law. She is frequently quoted in national news publications, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and CNN. Desmond Meade (right, with songwriter John Legend) led the movement to overturn Florida`s law to disenfranchise offenders in 2018. Danielle Lang joined CLC in October 2015. Danielle pleads a wide range of voting and redistricting issues in federal courts, including the ongoing challenge to the strict Texas Voter ID Act, Veasey v. Abbott, and CTC`s continued challenge to Alabama`s discriminatory disenfranchisement law, Thompson v. Alabama. The Commission is not really non-partisan and relies on false allegations of widespread electoral fraud. While most suffrage issues remain heavily polarized toward partisan lines, this cause — which has brought together such unlikely fellow litmen as the Cato Institute, the ACLU, the American Probation and Parole Association, and a consortium of evangelical groups — are not necessarily the case. With bills pending in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, some improvements to the «red state» seem likely. But just as 2020 voters demonstrated their commitment to our democracy by running to the polls, they will continue to fight for the right to participate in 2021.

The Democrats, who now have control of Congress, have prioritized their sweeping Democratic Reform Bill, dubbed HR 1 in the House of Representatives and S1 in the Senate. This would deprive all Americans convicted after their imprisonment of their rights. But regardless of the fate of this measure, more than 90 rights-restoring laws were introduced in 20 state legislatures this year. Only three bills have been proposed to steer the disenfranchisement of crimes in the opposite direction, and none are likely to be passed. In a challenge to Texas` strict voter identification law, the DOJ has just turned its back on minority voters and victims of discrimination in Texas. The progress in Virginia is particularly inspiring. For decades, it has permanently deprived all convicted persons of their rights unless they can obtain a pardon. In 2016, Governor Terry McAuliffe used his executive power to restore the rights of all those who had served their sentences, a policy confirmed by his successor, Democrat Ralph Northam. While this was a big step forward, it still deprived everyone of their rights to probation or probation.

Today, the General Assembly is debating whether to restore the right to vote after prison release – which could bring about a fundamental change in less than five years Many states are considering bills requiring future presidential candidates to publish tax returns or similar information to be put on the ballot. These requirements are good policies and should be maintained within the framework of the Constitution. So when voters vote in 2022, we could be much closer to the reality of universal suffrage, which we often take for granted. Danielle is a member of the New York and California Bars, as well as the Bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The Sentencing Project reports that 23 states extended their voting rights between 1997 and 2018, or about 1.4 million eligible. Then the movement had a turning point. Led by the intrepid Desmond Meade, Floridians struck down the nation`s toughest crime disenfranchisement bill in 2018 by passing Amendment 4, which promised to re-elect nearly as many Americans as they have in the past two decades of combined advocacy.

The march has been going on for two years. Nevada, New Jersey, California and Colorado have the voice of all but those in prison. Arizona has removed some financial barriers to the franchise. The governors of New York, Iowa and Kentucky have taken executive steps to extend these rights. And the District of Columbia began to act to completely eliminate the disenfranchisement of crime. *Approved only in New York and California; More Americans voted last year — both as a percentage of the eligible population and in gross numbers — than in any presidential election since 1900, when the «voting population» seemed very different. Despite the pandemic and stubborn election restrictions imposed by cynical politicians, nearly 160 million Americans have recorded their votes as historic proof of the value we attach to our democracy. Over the past two decades, former detainees and their allies have waged a tireless struggle to be recognized as full citizens. And while it`s not easy to demand a change in policy without the leverage of frankness at your disposal, they have made remarkable progress through courage, perseverance, and the benefits of moral superiority.