The Iowa Supreme Court will deliberate the state's prohibition of former felons to participate in elections.
The New York Times reported that the higher court of Iowa will hear the case on the lifetime ban on voting by convicted criminals. The hearing could clarify confusions on which of the state's previous offenders are qualified to take part in an election.
Concern groups like American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are asking the Supreme Court for consideration to reinstate voting rights to former offenders before the presidential election this November, NYT added.
Iowa is one of the three states that bars felons to exercise their rights to suffrage for life. The voting rights are restored by the governor only after ex-offenders prove that they have restitutions to the victims and are rehabilitated, as stated by ABC News.
However, the civil groups argued that the policy has undue effects to the black population of the state. It also makes it unkinder for the former offenders to reintegrate into society.
ABC News mentioned that Myrna Perez of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law claims that the policy does not help in protecting the veracity of the election. Perez further say that it is "detrimental to the citizens and communities of Iowa."
Jackson County Floridan held that in the last two decades, twenty states reinstated voting rights to felons. Maryland on Tuesday voted to uplift the ban against convicted offenders.
The Iowa Constitution in 1857 declares bars anyone who commits an "infamous crime" from voting. The high court and lawmakers put all felony crimes and some misdemeanors into that category. As result, a list of 50,000 people cannot vote. But in April 2014, the court argued that no misdemeanors trigger the loss of voting rights. The court would later decide whether all or only some felonies were "infamous," the news source wrote.
The Iowa Supreme Court's decision to consider the lifetime ban on voting for former offenders will be reached this summer.
