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| Ex-felons get the word: You can vote |
| By The Cleveland Plain Dealer |
| Published: 11/10/2003 |
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Omarr Majied did four months in the Richland Correctional Institution and returned to the world in July with no car, no money and no job. But there is one thing the 33-year-old Cleveland Heights man and other felons possess, and he's spreading the word: Under Ohio law, felons have the right to vote after they have left jail. Majied works for the Ohio Free the Vote Coalition, a collection of nonprofits and religious and lawyers groups dedicated to mobilizing voters often ignorant of their civil rights: formerly incarcerated felons. This election cycle, coalition volunteers passed out literature at public events and conducted a voter registration drive in the Cuyahoga County Correction Center, signing up 450 new voters. The coalition - supported this year by a $20,000 grant from the Ohio State Bar Association - finds itself battling the pervasive misconception that ex-felons can never vote after they've completed their sentences. Working for the coalition, Majied, who has been in and out of jail for drug and theft convictions, trudges through neighborhoods passing out fliers and encouraging others to vote. Cleveland Municipal Judge Ronald Adrine said offenders, lawyers and probation and parole officers are among those who, without ill intentions, play a part in perpetuating the myth. Adrine is chairman of the Racial Fairness Project, a nonprofit group and member of the Ohio Free the Vote Coalition. Ohio is one of 48 states and the District of Columbia (Maine and Vermont are the exceptions) that prohibit felons from voting while in jail. But Ohio allows these offenders to vote once they're out of prison, if they meet standard voting requirements. Eight states permanently deny felons the right to vote. In the rest of the states and the District, felons are allowed to vote, with various restrictions. |
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