JACKSON, Miss. — A new federal lawsuit is challenging the barriers that Mississippi poses to restoring voting rights to ex-convicts.
The suit, filed Tuesday by Southern Poverty Law Center, says Mississippi’s system is “harsh, punitive and unforgiving” and disproportionately hurts African-Americans.
The suit seeks what most states already have, which is automatic restoration of voting rights once a person completes a sentence for a disenfranchising crime.
Mississippi’s 1890 constitution specifies 10 crimes for which convictions remove voting rights, including murder, forgery and bigamy. A state attorney general’s opinion added 12 more, including timber larceny and carjacking.
To get their right to vote back, these ex-convicts must get permission from two-thirds of the Legislature and the governor. The lawsuit says only 14 people have managed this in the past five years.
