Undermining the Electoral Process, Chapter 8,622 : 9th Circuit Rules Voting Ban for Felons Racially Biased

Democrats defend and implicitly support ACORN's massive voter registration fraud. They fail to deter voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party. They push incessantly for universal voter registration and amnesty for illegal aliens. And now -- felons are on the cusp of gaining the right to vote in Washington thanks to activist Democrat judges.

The New York Times reports that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday held that a Washington state law barring incarcerated felons from voting violates the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it disproportionately affects minorities...

The three-judge panel split in overturning the district judge’s 2000 ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by a former prison inmate, and found that disparities in the state’s justice system “cannot be explained in race-neutral ways.” Of the 18,000 felons currently incarcerated by the state, over 37 percent are minorities; of that group, African-Americans make up the largest subsection at nearly 20 percent. The plaintiffs claimed that the Washington felon disenfranchisement law is illegal because it dilutes the minorities’ electoral strength due to their larger percentage among the prison population...

Dissenting 9th Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown wrote that the 1st, 2nd, and 11th Circuit courts have rejected VRA challenges to felon disenfranchisement laws, which many states have enacted in various iterations nationwide. The state Attorney General’s office hasn’t said whether they will seek a ruling by the full circuit court or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The modern Democrat Party is a disgrace -- and it must be stopped in 2010, before it's too late.


Hat tip: Steven G.