In a ground-breaking ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2010 struck down our state constitution’s provision barring felons from voting. The court found that racial minorities with felony convictions in Washington are disproportionately prevented from voting and that this stems from racial discrimination in the state’s criminal justice system, thereby violating the landmark federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read More »

The ACLU represented an individual seeking a Certificate of Discharge (COD) to restore voting rights lost due to a prior felony conviction. The individual had completed all terms of his sentence by October 2001, entitling him to automatically receive a COD. He did not learn about it until 2004. The ACLU filed a motion for a COD on his behalf in 2008 and argued that the effective date the discharge should be October 2001. The court agreed and granted the COD effective October 2001. Read More »

The ACLU submitted an amicus brief in a lawsuit by a candidate who claimed that illegal votes were cast in the 2005 state governor's election by persons previously convicted of a felony. The brief described the complex procedures individuals have to maneuver in order to get their right to vote restored. In May 2005, the Chelan Superior Court denied ACLU's motion to file brief. Read More »

Overturning a lower court ruling, the Washington Supreme Court found that conditioning the right to vote on payment of court-imposed fines does not violate the state and federal constitutions. The ruling came in a case brought by the ACLU on behalf of three citizens who had served their prison terms but were denied the right to vote solely because they owed money. Read More »