Delaware bill would allow convicted felons to vote

(The Center Square) — Convicted felons in Delaware would be allowed to cast ballots in federal and state elections under a proposed constitutional amendment being considered by lawmakers.

The Democratic-led proposal, filed in the state Senate last week, would update the state constitution to make Delaware among 20 states that automatically restore a convicted felon's voting rights upon release from prison.

The bill's primary sponsor, state Sen. Kyle Evans Gay, D-Talleyville, said the state's "felony disenfranchisement" laws are "antithetical to the principles of fairness, justice and equality" and need to be updated.

"People who commit a crime deserve to be judged and sentenced accordingly," he said in a statement. "But how can we claim to believe in redemption and second chances while we permanently strip people of our republic’s most basic right?"

"All returning citizens – no matter their crimes – should be able to participate in our democracy, and this bill will finally give them that chance," Gay added.

The proposal, if approved, would also narrow the list of felonies considered eligible for disenfranchisement and prevent the state from taking away voting rights from convicted felons for failure to pay fines or other court-related costs.

The measure is expected to face pushback from Republicans and victims’ rights groups, who have argued that convicted felons should be required to prove that they have been reformed before allowing them to vote and have a say in the political process.

But the proposal is backed by Democrats and civil liberties groups who argue that felons who have done their time deserve a second chance to rejoin society by restoring their right to vote.

The legislation also includes several other "restorative justice" measures that are likely to face pushback, including a plan to repeal a constitutional requirement that Delaware residents pass a basic literacy test register to vote.

"Literacy tests have been used to disqualify Blacks and individuals who are immigrants or poor," a summary of the bill reads. "Because of the discriminatory use of, and often subjective nature of, literacy tests, literacy tests are prohibited under federal law and likely unconstitutional under the 14th or 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."

Democratic state Rep. Kerri Evelyn Harris, a leading House sponsor of the bill, said the proposal would help "those who have made amends for their crimes by completing their sentences to participate in our democracy and allow them to fully reintegrate into society."

“If we truly believe that a prison sentence is the punishment that a person faces for committing a crime, then we should not be continuing to penalize people once they’ve completed that sentence,” she said in a statement.

Delaware is the only state in the nation that does not require voter approval to adopt constitutional amendments.