Some Mississippi felons could regain voting rights under plan being pursued by Republicans

Top leaders in the Mississippi House are in the early stages of crafting a pathway for some people convicted of disenfranchising felonies to have their voting rights restored — the first such effort at the Capitol in more than a decade.

Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, told Mississippi Today that he has tasked Constitution Committee Chairman Price Wallace and Judiciary B Committee Chairman Kevin Horan with proposing legislation that would restore suffrage for Mississippians convicted of certain felonies.

“I’ve talked to some members in the House, and I haven’t gotten any negative response,” said Wallace, a Republican from Mendenhall.

The two committee leaders at this stage have different ideas about which types of disqualifying felonies shouldn’t be subject to the lifetime voting ban. But both agree that suffrage should be restored only after someone has completed the terms of their sentence.

Wallace said he was open to restoring suffrage for people convicted of nearly all nonviolent crimes. Horan, a Republican from Grenada, said he also wants to explore restoring suffrage to people convicted of some lower-level violent crimes, with the exception of people convicted of embezzling public money.

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t at least look into it,” Horan said. “But I haven’t really thought that much about it at this stage.”

Under the Mississippi Constitution, people convicted of any of 10 felonies — including perjury, arson and bigamy — lose their voting rights for life. A 2009 opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office expanded the list of disenfranchising felonies to 22.

About 37,900 names are on the Secretary of State’s voter disenfranchisement list as of Jan. 29. The list, provided to Mississippi Today through a public records request, goes back to 1992 for felony convictions in state court. That number, however, may not be wholly accurate because no state agency tracks people once they are struck for the voter rolls. Studies commissioned by civil rights organizations in 2018 estimated between 44,000 and 50,000 Mississippians were disenfranchised.

For someone to have their suffrage restored, a lawmaker has to introduce a bill on their behalf, and two-thirds of lawmakers in both legislative chambers must agree to it. A person can also seek a gubernatorial pardon, though no executive pardon has been handed down since Gov. Haley Barbour’s final days in office in 2011.

When the drafters of Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution created a new framework for Mississippi’s government, their stated intent was to reinstitute white supremacy following Reconstruction and bar Black citizens from holding office.

One way to accomplish that goal was to impose a lifetime voting ban on people convicted of certain crimes. The framers included crimes they believed African Americans were more likely to commit.

“There is no use to equivocate or lie about the matter … Mississippi’s constitutional convention of 1890 was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the n----- from politics,” Mississippi Gov. James K. Vardaman said at the time.

Civil rights organizations have filed two federal lawsuits over the constitutional provisions.

One group argued the list of disenfranchising crimes violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause under the 14th Amendment, but federal courts rejected that argument.

Another group argued the lifetime voting ban violates the 8th Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. A panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit initially agreed with the plaintiffs, but the full circuit is reconsidering the panel’s ruling. That case is still pending, and attorneys have indicated the case will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court regardless of the outcome at the appellate level.

Legislative efforts to reform the disenfranchisement law face an uphill battle. Changes to the state constitution bypass the governor, but they require approval by two-thirds of the members of both the House and Senate — the highest legislative threshold requirement on the books. Then, if lawmakers pass the measure, a majority of voters must approve the change on a statewide ballot.

Rep. Kabir Karriem, a Democrat from Columbus, has filed numerous bills over several years to grant people convicted of disenfranchising felonies a way to regain their voting rights, but his legislation has never gained serious traction in the Legislature. He told Mississippi Today on Wednesday that he is working with Horan and Wallace on the legislation.

“I’m encouraged by it, and it has the potential to impact many Mississippians,” Karriem said.

While numerous Democrats for years have filed proposals to change the process for people convicted of disenfranchising crimes to regain their voting rights, conservative lawmakers in recent years have also started to support the policy.

Republican Rep. Tracy Arnold of Booneville said he plans to introduce a resolution this year to change the state constitution to create a way for some convicted felons to have their suffrage restored.

Arnold, an ordained minister, said Christian principles of forgiveness influenced his decision to advocate for restoring voting rights to people who have completed their prison sentence.

“Once you’ve paid your debt to society, that should trigger a restoration of your rights,” Arnold said. “To me, real forgiveness is restoration.”

Former House Judiciary B Chairman Nick Bain, a Republican from Corinth, shepherded a proposal through the Legislature in 2022 that sought to clarify that people who have had a disenfranchising felony expunged from their criminal record would regain their voting rights. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed Bain’s proposal, and the Legislature did not override the veto.

The last time the Legislature substantively addressed felony suffrage was when the House overwhelmingly passed legislation in 2008 to restore voting rights to all Mississippians convicted of felonies, except for those convicted of murder or rape.

The 2008 legislation later died in the Senate, where Phil Bryant — who would later become governor and not pardon a single Mississippian convicted of any crime — presided as lieutenant governor.