Video: Knowing Your Voter Rights

by Victoria bailey

COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)—The presidential election is just a month away, but not everyone will be able to cast a vote.

According to Urban Institute dot org, Six million Americans are not allowed to vote because of a felony conviction.

Many people believe that if you’ve been convicted of a felony or even been to jail you forfeit your right to vote. But according to Mississippi State law… that’s not necessarily the case.

“There are twenty one crimes that if you’re convicted in the state of Mississippi for you can not vote. If it is any crime other than those twenty one, you still can vote. If it is a federal crime, you can still vote. If it is one of these crimes committed in another state, you can still vote,”Representative Gary Chism said.

Some of the crimes that can keep you from voting include: Murder, rape, arson Perjury, Embezzlement and Bigamy. And that’s just a partial list.

Misdemeanor crimes don’t take away your voting rights. And believe it or not…in certain cases, being behind bars, doesn’t mean you forfeit your voting rights.

“All you have to do is request an absentee ballot from the circuit clerk of the county in which you’re in and they will send it to you.. .and you fill it out send it in and you’ve voted,”Chism said.

Sharon Jones is the Founder of Parole to Pride. She says her organization helps felons get back to being productive members of society.

” When they first come to our program we try to find out if they have identification a social security card a voter card and if they don’t we start working toward getting them that. We also ask about their credit history we try to pull a credit report so they can look at their credit history and try to rectify some of those problem they may have had entering into the program.” Jones said.

State Representative Kabir Karriem says community support and knowing your rights can quickly get you back on the right track after a brush with the law.

“We can’t just ostracizes them in a community those folks have votes as well. We need to educate our community on all is not lost. Your not ostracized or have the bubonic plague because you’ve made a mistake in society,”Karriem said.

If you have been convicted of one of the 21 crimes that takes away your voting rights. State lawmakers have to pass a bill, specifically for you, to reinstate your right to vote. It has to pass the house and the senate and be signed by the governor.