A lawsuit filed on July 1 in State court seeks to restore voting rights for some 70,000 Louisiana residents who are on probation or parole for felonies.
The suit was filed in Baton Rouge by the group Voice of the Ex-Offender and several convicted felons who have been denied voting rights. The suit says State laws blocking people who are on parole or probation from voting violate the Louisiana Constitution.
The 1974 Constitution allows suspension of voting rights for people judicially declared mentally incompetent or those who are "under an order of imprisonment" for a felony. The lawsuit contends that the denial of voting rights does not extend to felons who have been released on parole or probation.
The suit asks the court to declare unconstitutional State laws that prohibit voting by felons on parole or probation.
The State, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Secretary of State Tom Schedler are named as defendants in the suit. Schedler spokeswoman Meg Casper said the Secretary has not been served with the lawsuit yet.
Ruth Wisher, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jeff Landry, said Landry's office was reviewing the suit. "We believe the restrictions on voting rights of convicted felons are constitutional," Wisher said in an email.
The lawsuit cites not only the Louisiana Constitution's specific language, but also minutes of the 1973 Convention that drafted the Constitution indicating language intended to deny the vote to people on probation was rejected.
Eight individual plaintiffs are named in the suit but they want the court to declare it a class action covering an estimated 70,000 felons.
Among the plaintiffs is Kenneth Johnston, described in the lawsuit as a 67-year-old veteran who returned from Vietnam with post-traumatic stress disorder and a heroin addiction. He was convicted in 1972 for the killing of a fellow addicted vet in a gunfight. He served 22 years in prison and is now working as a paralegal in New Orleans while on parole for life.
"Despite his service to his country, his successful transition back to the community, his contribution to the federal and state governments by paying his taxes, he will never have the opportunity to vote and participate in the democratic process before he dies," the lawsuit says.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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