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| Voting Rights Sought for Parolees |
| By Ashbury Park Press |
| Published: 10/03/2005 |
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New Jersey lawyers are seeking to win voting rights for people on probation or parole went before a state appeals court panel last week, saying the issue discriminates against minorities who dominate the prison population. Countering their arguments was state Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Burstein, who said, "Here we have a state statute that makes no distinction and was created without discriminatory intent." But law professor Frank Askin of Rutgers University in Newark said the case "has a direct impact on the right to vote." Askin and other lawyers said disenfranchising people on parole and probation denies the state constitution's guarantee of equal protections. This, they said, is because 70 percent of the prison population consists of minorities, who account for about 36 percent of state residents. Askin said this erodes the political power of minorities. The case NAACP vs. Harvey was brought by by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers Law School. The three appellate judges heard arguments rejected earlier in Superior Court. The judges probed whether the suit sought to challenge a flaw in a law, change the constitution or perhaps change state policy, which the jurists said would be the job of the Legislature and not the courts. Denying the vote to parolees and to people on probation has been codified in the state constitution, rewritten and passed almost 60 years ago. Appellate Judge Donald Coburn said the court could not undo what framers wrote into the constitution. The judges also told the lawyers that parolees and people on probation are considered by the law to still be within the restrictions of the penal system. People who complete their prison terms, parole or probation regain their right to vote in New Jersey. Craig Levine, policy director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, assisted on the side of the ACLU. Levine argued that in any democracy, a minority discriminated against by a law approved by the majority has no hope of winning redress in that legislative body. The ACLU says 18 states allow people on parole or probation to vote and that additional states are considering it. Maine and Vermont even allow inmates to vote. |
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