The Tennessee ACLU says the legislature’s vote last year’s to make it easier for felons to restore their voting rights was a step in right direction, but some of the requirements are out of sync with the rest of the country.
Nancy Abudu of the ACLU’s Southern Voting Rights Project says convicted felons who’ve served their time must be up to date on their child support payments before they can vote. She says that’s unfair.
“You have people who are delinquent on their child support payments who never lose their right to vote and yet it’s made a qualification for someone who has been convicted of a crime. It’s not our position that those shouldn’t be paid, that they’re not important, but it’s another barrier in order for someone to exercise their right.”
Abudu was a presenter at today’s conference on restoring voting rights.
An estimated two-billion dollars in child support remains uncollected in the state and penalties for that include confiscating driver’s licenses and professional licenses.
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