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.