Assistant Secretary of State Steve Excell disputed my assertion that Sam Reed supports restoring voting rights to all non-incarcerated felons. Listen to the committee hearing, including testimony from Reed's lobbyist Katie Blinn.
Discussion of this bill starts at 58:40, Blinn's testimony at 1:10:05:
The Secretary of State's Office is not taking a particular position ... about the policy issues of when the right to vote should be restored.But Blinn goes on to explain that there is no single database with information about felons' eligibility for voting, and that this bill offers a more straightforward way to determine eligibility:
The Secretary of State's Office is going to be supporting bills that make it clear who is eligible and who is not.Impressive attempt at triangulation, but the bottom line is that Sam Reed supports a bill restoring voting rights to all non-incarcerated felons. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 03, 2007 03:42 PM | Email This
Stefan was just trying to be provocative by calling them "lobbyists". I'm sure he doesn't really believe that Sam Reed or any other elected official shouldn't employ people who work with the Legislature.
Posted by: DJ on February 3, 2007 04:19 PMIf what you are saying is true, it's outrageous and a major waste of taxpayer money. We could save multimillions by eliminating those positions......
Posted by: sgmmac on February 3, 2007 04:30 PMRestoring the right to vote to a low end felon (class C or D) is a great way to motivate ex felons to become involved in society and there communities and be less likely to commit crimes that would harm that community.
Posted by: CKL on February 3, 2007 05:06 PMAs far back as 05, Reed was banging the drum for that very thing.
http://clarkcountypolitics.blogspot.com/2005/06/when-republicans-are-stupid-kimsey.html
State czar for voting: Let felons cast ballots
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
By DON JENKINS, Columbian staff writer
Felons cast most of the illegal votes that clouded Washington's gubernatorial election, and the state's chief elections official Tuesday proposed a way to prevent it from happening again: legalize those voters.
Talking to reporters at the Clark County auditor's office, Secretary of State Sam Reed for the first time came out solidly in support of letting freed felons vote, regardless of their court-imposed debts.
Posted by: Hinton on February 3, 2007 05:22 PMWhat are you, about 12 y/o? Govt entities at all levels pay $zillions for this kind of stuff. See "Bush Administration" if you'd like a case study.
You are a real piece of workk.
Posted by: Unkl Witz on February 3, 2007 06:03 PMWe arn't talking about the federal government, but if they are paying lobbyists - they need to go too!
As for your remark about my age - I'm retired Army, which you already know.
Posted by: sgmmac on February 3, 2007 07:45 PMTHat's what you get for playing with liberals. They will deliberatly hurl insults because they have NO arguments.
Posted by: Donkey_Courage on February 4, 2007 07:28 AMAlso if you are a federal felons treated differently depending upon the state they reside?
Posted by: Green Lake Mark on February 4, 2007 08:35 AMI don't know if there's a consumer reports style state-by-state breakdown, but it's a start.
Posted by: Gentry on February 4, 2007 10:18 AM20 years ago I was caught growing 9 marijuana plants. I was caught red handed so I plead guilty without negotiating a plea bargain, dumb move on my part, but...I took my medicine. I was convicted of a class C felony.
Did my weekend in jail, community service and paid a 2,000 dollar restitution to the state. I was then able to have my voting rights restored.
Paying the restitution to "the state" killed me. There wasn't any victims of a crime or anything else, my dough went to fund the W.O.D., period. For the state now to "give" the rights back after time served is an insult to folks like me that paid their "debt to society" in full.
If the dems think giving felons the right to vote will increase their turn-out, I can assure you they are wrong. The ones stupid enough to vote dem won't and the rest of us, especially after this, will vote conservative.
Felons in this state have it lucky if they aren't career screw-ups. Washington is one of the few states that have a provision to vacate certain non-violent felonies and misdemeanors from your record and a method other than Presidential Pardon to restore 2nd amendment rights. Both of which I have taken advantage of.
Leave the protocols alone.
Posted by: Been there done that on February 4, 2007 11:55 AM