Plan to help felons vote encounters snag

CARSON CITY -- Differences over a proposed rule dealing with voting rights of felons caused a move Tuesday by a legislative panel to seek a rewrite of the plan.

Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, who leads the lawmakers' Subcommittee to Review Regulations, said he could not support Secretary of State Ross Miller's proposed rule change in its current form.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, backed the plan but said a revision could resolve any differences before the 2008 elections and comply with a Nevada law change several years ago aimed at ensuring voting rights to felons whose rights have been restored.

Buckley said some states, including California, will restore such rights but not provide documents proving that status if a felon moves to other states.

"How much more time to we have to spend letting the paperwork get in the way of our statutory intent?" she asked.

Larry Lomax, elections chief in Clark County, said a lot of "shouting and yelling" occurs every election cycle in Las Vegas when felons without official documents are told they cannot vote in Nevada, even if they voted for years elsewhere before moving to this state.

Without a Nevada rule change, "they're kind of up a creek without a paddle," Lomax said.

The secretary of state's proposal would have solved the problem by letting felons submit sworn affidavits that their voting rights have been restored.

Matt Griffin, elections chief for Miller, said state laws support the rule.

But Brenda Erdoes, chief legal counsel for legislators, pointed to a law section that states a felon must produce an official document from a court or agency showing the rights have been restored.

Under Miller's plan, if election officials thought a document provided by a felon were invalid or a forgery, they would have to try to verify it. In the meantime, they would have to accept it as legitimate until it was proven to be bogus.

A 2003 Nevada law change restored civil rights to thousands of first-time felons in the state. But it required some former offenders to navigate a complicated system to appeal for their rights and bring proof of their eligibility to the voting booth.

In 2005, legislators tried unsuccessfully to remove some of the roadblocks for felons.

They were backed by several felons who described difficulties they have had in getting and keeping jobs after serving their sentences and who testified that positive steps such as having their rights restored would help keep them from reverting to criminal activity.

Other election rule changes, including one aimed at giving the public more access to preparations for voting and balloting, were accepted by the lawmakers' regulation subcommittee.

The rule change on public access will enable anyone to observe voting and the preliminary testing that is done to ensure election results will be accurate.

Other rule changes require county clerks to verify the address of voters signing petitions to ensure that the address matches the address of record for that voter.

If the addresses do not match, the signature cannot be counted.