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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The man at the center of a Mississippi case aimed at restoring the voting rights of felons said Tuesday that he is fighting on behalf of everyone like him who “made a mistake in life.” Dennis Hopkins spoke after judges at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard […]

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge is considering whether Florida lawmakers exceeded their authority by requiring former felons to pay fines and settle other legal debts as a condition of regaining their right to vote. The case is one of several ongoing legal battles that underscore Florida’s often-pivotal role in national politics, especially with […]

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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A small group of inmates, disproportionately black, are set to stay in Washington state prisons for life — left out of the latest in a multi-year wave of reforms easing tough-on-crime “three strikes” laws around the U.S. At least 24 states including Washington passed such laws during the 1990s, embracing tough-on-crime […]

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The normally humdrum bureaucracy of registering to vote brought tears to the eyes of some Floridians on Tuesday when most felons regained their right to vote under a state constitutional amendment. “I’ll be a human being again. I’ll be an American citizen again,” Robert Eckford said, choking up and weeping after […]

Roland Martin talks to Desmond Meade, President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), about his efforts to restore voting rights to felons. There are over 1.5 million people who are unable to participate in the voting process because of a, “past mistake.” That’s more than the population of 60 countries, says Meade. This is more than […]

If you have a felony you don’t have the right to vote and it can even be hard to find a job. But there is…