This bill revises provisions governing the restoration of voting rights for persons convicted of a felony.
Under present law, subject to certain exceptions, a person who is convicted of a felony is disqualified from voting in this state. Generally, a convicted felon who has paid any court-ordered restitution, paid all court costs, and is current on any applicable child support obligation may apply for a voter registration card and have the right of suffrage restored upon:
(1) Receiving a pardon, except where the pardon contains special conditions pertaining to the right of suffrage;
(2) The discharge from custody by reason of service or expiration of the maximum sentence imposed by the court for the infamous crime; or
(3) Being granted a certificate of final discharge from supervision by the board of parole or any equivalent discharge by another state, the federal government, or county correction authority.
Under present law, depending on the date of the conviction, persons are never eligible to register and vote in this state after being convicted of the following: voter fraud; treason; any degree of murder; any degree of rape; felony bribery; felony misconduct by a public official or employee; felony perjury; felony sexual offense; or felony violent sexual offense.
This bill revises present law to make the loss of voting rights for a felony conviction a temporary suspension, unless the person was convicted of one of the felony offenses described in the preceding paragraph, in which case the person will be permanently disqualified from voting. Also, under this bill, instead of having to "apply for a voter registration card," a person who meets the criteria described above in (1)-(3) and is not permanently disqualified from voting will be "eligible for automatic restoration of their voting rights" upon satisfying the applicable criteria described above in (1)-(3). This bill removes the requirements that the person have paid any court-ordered restitution, paid all court costs, and be current on any applicable child support obligation.
This bill revises and adds various provisions of the election laws to reflect the changes to the restoration of voting right provisions, including requiring the state coordinator of elections to maintain a list of suspended voter registrations and specifying that voter registrations that suspended will be not be included in a county's total of registered voters.

Statutes affected:
Current Version: 2-2-102, 2-2-106(a)(4), 2-2-106, 2-2-139, 2-11-202(a), 2-11-202, 40-20-112, 40-29-202, 40-29-203