The voting rights of over 42,000 Wisconsinites would be restored, under legislation being proposed at the Capitol.
Under current state law, convicted felons lose their right to vote until they've served their sentence, along with any probation or parole after they get out of prison.
State Representative Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) questions that practice and wonders what right the state has to revoke the rights of individuals who are trying reintegrate into society. She says being able to vote allows those former prisoners to begin taking an active role in their communities again.
Grigsby is co-sponsoring the Democracy Restoration Act, which would allow felons to vote after they've finished their time in prison. She says they shouldn't have to wait until their entire sentence is complete, because probation and parole are about giving people a period of time where they can successfully rejoin society.
Grigsby says the current law hits the black community hardest, where one in nine have lost their right to vote. She says Wisconsin has the 11th highest rate of Black voter disenfranchisement in the nation.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 1:06)
