justus15vote

   Getting returned citizens registered to vote is crucial.  If you’re 2 years after completing (discharge) your felony sentence, including probation and or parole, you are eligible to get registered to vote in Nebraska .  Registration can be done via various methods, (1) At the DMV, (2) Election Commission, (3) Via mail or online at www.sos.state.ne.us  or (4)  at voter registration drives in your community.  More community and or organizational efforts are needed in the time remaining to get returned citizens registered to vote.  http://www.ketv.com/news/volunteers-work-to-reregister-convicted-felons/42132246

    Current Nebraska law (R.R.S. § 29-113) bifurcate returning citizens into two groups – those that can vote after two years and those that can’t.  This makes no sense.  Upon completion (discharge) of a felony sentence a person should be able to vote immediately.  This should be the ultimate goal.

    You don’t lose your citizenship upon incarceration..  Both Maine and Vermont allow people to vote while incarcerated in prison.  Maine and Vermont shouldn’t be more progressive on voting rights for current and former incarcerated people than any other state.  So, yes, register to vote if you qualify and vote.  If you can’t  vote yet because you’re pending the two-year waiting period to expire – join the #J15 Initiative to change the law.

In Nebraska, R.R.S. 29-113  is the epicenter at which returning citizens lose their right to vote for two years after discharging their sentence , “Any person who has been convicted of a felony under the laws of any other state is not qualified to vote until two years after such person has completed his or her sentence, including any parole term.”

https://www.facebook.com/Justus15vote-2092199801005181/

     After completion of his or her sentence is the most crucial part of the statute because it allows the completed sentence to effectively remain active.  Active in a way that reeks of double jeopardy.  The two-year disenfranchisement period makes no sense and was merely a compromise to what was a lifetime ban on voting in Nebraska.  Read the floor debate on legislative bill (LB) 53 and decide for yourself.  See pp. 21-49.

Restoration of the right  to vote after discharging (completing) a sentence should be as immediate as breathing.  Voting like breathing should be viewed as a civic exercise of inclusion.  It removes a barrier that does nothing but attempt to stigmatize a person’s now based on past or prior conduct that they’ve served their time for.  The current law must be abolished.l

The short answer is yes, we’re citizens too.  Voting, after employment and housing becomes the single most important activity that engages and includes a person in the political process.  Voting rights shouldn’t ever be denied.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/16/156855043/should-ex-felons-have-the-right-to-voteS