April 25, 2006: Restoration of voting rights - tell your representative to vote FOR HB1722

Dear Friends,

Please contact your House representative and ask him or her to vote FOR
HB1722, which creates a uniform system for restoring voting rights to persons with felony convictions who have completed their sentence. (Talking points are below.)

HB1722 could be on the House Floor as early as this Thursday (April 27). The Senate Companion bill passed last year with strong bi-partisan support (26-7 vote).

Please be sure to contact your House representative and ask him or her to
vote FOR HB1722 on the House Floor. You can identify your legislators by
visiting www.congress.org. Simply type in your zip code and click "Go," and
you will get a list of all your elected officials. (You may have to type in
your street address if your zip code is split between more than one
district.)

Many thanks for supporting the right to vote!

Talking Points -

-Tennessee has the most confusing felon disenfranchisement in America.

Tennessee felon disenfranchisement law is an unintelligible patchwork quilt
of rules, restrictions, and procedures. The current laws are so confusing
that people cannot easily determine if they have lost their right to vote,
and if so, how to get their voting rights restored. HB1722 will streamline
voting rights restoration in Tennessee.

--Under HB1722, all eligible ex-felons who have completed their sentences
will be eligible to have their right to vote restored upon receiving a
certificate of completion.

This one procedure will apply to all eligible ex-felons. Those persons who
would be eligible to vote must have completed their sentence, including probation and parole, and paid their restitution. HB1722 is good public policy; it will have a positive impact on society, and promote democracy.

--Voting is a fundamental right that is the cornerstone of our democracy.

To deny the right to vote is tantamount to taxation without representation.
Disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions reduces the prospects
of successful rehabilitation and reintegration into their communities.