Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Progressive groups seek to get out felon vote

State law restores voting rights of some out-of-jail felons

Felon Steve Nighthawk, holding his 18-month-old niece Arlena Dutchy, stands near a billboard, for which he designed the graphic, that was unveiled in Reno Tuesday. The billboard is part of a voter registration drive targeting felons in Nevada. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO -- A coalition of progressive groups is trying to get out the vote in Nevada among those who got out of jail.

"Now that you've done your time, it's time to VOTE," reads a billboard displayed Tuesday by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a statewide coalition of 43 organizations.

Alliance leaders said a new state law that automatically restores the voting rights of felons who have completed sentences for first-offense, nonviolent crimes could make a difference in a battleground state that President Bush narrowly carried in 2000.

Thirty-three other states have enacted similar legislation, according to The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C.

Bob Fulkerson, the alliance's director, said only about 500 of Nevada's 44,000 out-of-jail felons are registered to vote.

"If only 10 percent of them registered and turned out to vote it could make a huge difference," he said.

Chris Carr, the state Republican Party's executive director, accused the alliance of being a front for Democrats who are trying to help John Kerry carry Nevada.

With voter registration almost even between the two political parties, Nevada and its five electoral votes has been identified as a battleground state.

"I don't think it's about giving felons a second chance and the right to vote," Carr said. "I just find it appalling what this group is doing."