Starting Thursday, felons who discharge their sentence from an Iowa prison or complete their parole will be given a nearly completed application to restore their voting rights.
Each felon in Iowa must apply individually to the governor's office to have their voting rights restored — one of the most restrictive processes in the country. But that process is becoming simpler.
Iowa Department of Corrections Director Beth Skinner said her department will roll out a system Thursday to auto-complete 12 of the 14 questions on the voting rights restoration application. An officer will then work with the inmate to complete the last two questions as part of their discharge from the correctional system, Skinner said.
"It’s going to be all auto-populated for them so they don’t have to go back and look for old offenses and dates," Skinner told reporters Wednesday in Des Moines. "The only thing they’ll have to pull from is court fines and what they owe and if they had a deferment ... but other than that, it’s going to become easy so they don’t have to go back and dig up that information."
The felons will still be responsible for sending the completed application form to the Iowa governor's office once they leave prison, Skinner said.
"We’ll auto-populate it for them, we’ll help them finish out the last two questions and it will be their responsibility to send it to her," Skinner said.
Skinner's announcement came during a meeting of a committee that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds created this fall to examine ways to reduce recidivism and bias in the criminal justice system. The group voted Wednesday to approve a set of recommendations for Reynolds to consider, including pushing for a law prohibiting state agencies and local governments from asking about a job applicant's criminal history until later in the job application process.
Iowa has faced criticism for its blanket prohibition on ex-felons voting without having their rights restored by the governor. The only other state with a similar restriction is Kentucky, where newly-elected Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has promised to sign an executive order Thursday restoring the voting rights of more than 100,000 felons.
► More: Iowa could soon be alone in the nation with felon voting ban — and become a bigger target for ban's opponents
In Iowa, Reynolds, a Republican, has ruled out signing a similar executive order, but she has called for amending the state's constitution to remove the blanket ban — a strategy she says is better because it creates a permanent solution. However, the proposal failed to pass the Iowa Legislature this year and the process of amending the state constitution takes years.
Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP and a member of the governor's committee, said her group continues to push for Reynolds to sign an executive order immediately restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences — something previous Democratic Iowa governors have done. But Andrews praised the automated application process that Skinner announced Wednesday.
"We know the governor will continue to press for the constitutional amendment," Andrews said. "In the meantime, I think, in lieu of an executive order, this course of action is probably the best we could probably expect, so really, really, really excited about it. I think this is a win."
Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, who chairs the governor's committee on criminal justice issues, praised the group for its recommendations Wednesday and defended Reynolds' approach to the felon voting issue.
"She’s advocated for a constitutional amendment, which will make it a permanent fix and, I believe, that’s exactly the right direction to go," he said.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
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Iowa will automate part of felon voting rights restoration process starting Thursday - Des Moines Register
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