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SD Secretary of State's Office Fails Voters (Again) |
State Has One Week To Fix Breach of Contract
For Immediate Release
October 31, 2011
CONTACT: Taté Walker, (605) 332-2508 or twalker@aclu.org
SIOUX FALLS - South Dakotans with felony convictions continue to have their voting rights crushed by the Secretary of State's office despite a lawsuit agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota.
This voting rights infringement is most clearly evidenced on the Secretary of State's Web site, which states: "In order to register [to vote] you must… not serving (sic) a felony sentence." The statement is false and is not the law in the state of South Dakota, which allows for certain classes of felons and those who have completed their sentences to vote.
The statement also violates a 2010 consent agreement the state entered into with the ACLU of South Dakota and the national ACLU Voting Rights Project. The ACLU sent a letter recently informing the state of the violation and demanded remedy within one week.
"These violations are a major disappointment to the ACLU, and more importantly to disenfranchised voters who continually see their rights tossed aside," said Robert Doody, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Dakota.
In 2009, the ACLU sued South Dakota on behalf of two American Indian women illegally denied the right to vote in the November 2008 elections because the state had removed them from the voting registry. South Dakota allows for some convicted felons to vote while they are still serving their sentence.
The case was settled in March of 2010. Per the settlement agreement, the Secretary of State's office was to provide information on the voting rights of convicted felons on their Web site and to implement certain policies and procedures to ensure voters with felony convictions were not illegally removed from the voting registry.
Current Secretary of State Jason Gant, however, has failed to implement several of the agreed to changes and has materially misstated the voting rights law on the Web site. In addition, Gant has failed even an attempt to enact a statute clarifying the voting rights of felons per the 2010 settlement.
Furthermore, Gant told the Board of Elections during a September meeting that felons cannot vote, thus materially misstating South Dakota law to the elections board.
The state has one week to notify the ACLU of the steps it will take to remedy its breach of the consent agreement and to ensure that those who can vote will be given the opportunity to do so.
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For more information, please contact Taté Walker, communications director of the ACLU of South Dakota at (606) 332-2508 or (646) 421-9387 or email twalker@aclu.org.
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