It’s a bizarre process, a leftover from the 1890s’ racist Mississippi Constitution that grants the Legislature the power to restore voting rights. It is handled on a case by case basis. Each person who has their rights restored will need a bill. Many felons who get their rights restored are those with some political connections or the ability to navigate the legislative maze. In 2019, the Legislature granted voting rights to Patrick Joseph Fick, a Harrison County felon who was convicted almost 30 years ago. Fick’s friend was a relative and state Rep. Richard Bennett (R-Long Beach), who consented to file the bill that would restore his rights. Fick stated that he wouldn’t have known about the legislative process for restoring voting rights if he didn’t have any connections to Bennett in a 2019 interview. Eight bills were passed by House Judiciary B late last week to restore voting rights to felons who had paid their societal debt. Nick Bain (R-Corinth), Judiciary B Chair, stated that “hopefully we can get them” (bills restoring voter rights) through every step of the process. It is possible that Senate Judiciary B Chair Brice WIggins, R.Pascagoula will also be working on suffrage legislation in the coming days. Since 2000, the Legislature has passed 7.4 suffrage legislation per year on average. The highest number was 34 in 2004. The legislators have not passed any suffrage bills in the three years since 2000. Last year, 16 were passed – the second highest number since 2000. Two efforts are underway – one by Mississippi Center for Justice, and another by Southern Poverty Law Center to get federal courts declare unconstitutional the section of the state Constitution which permanently disenfranchises certain felons. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had set oral arguments for this month in the Center for Justice case. The court is now considering whether to accept written briefs. Rob McDuff, of the Mississippi Center for Justice, stated that it was clear that the framers the state Constitution had “racial intention.” He said that the program was intended to deny African Americans the right to vote just like the literacy test, poll tax and other elements that have been overturned by federal courts. The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution disfranchising felons was in place “to obstruct exercise of the franchise of the negro races” in the 1890s. It did so by targeting “the offenses which its weaker members are prone to,” bribery and theft, arson, obtaining money, goods or under false pretenses, perjury forgery, embezzlement bigamy, burglary and forgery. These were wrongly or rightfully considered more common crimes for African Americans. The Constitution’s original language allowed for a person to be convicted of cattle-rustling, lose their right to vote and convicted of murder or rape to still be eligible to vote. 1968 saw the addition of the disenfranchising crime of murder and rape. Even today, a person can be convicted of writing bad checks and lose their right to vote. However, they could also be a major drug kingpin and be imprisoned and still be eligible to vote. In defending the process, the Attorney General’s Office stated that Mississippi law had always disenfranchised felons in some way. But Mississippi is different from other states. Mississippi is one of a few states (about 10 according to Sentencing Project) that does not allow a person to vote after they have completed their sentence. This could include any terms of probation or parole. The Sentencing Project, an advocacy and research group that focuses on criminal justice issues, conducted a 2016 study that found Mississippi had nearly 10% of its population disenfranchised. This is second only to Florida. Floridians voted in 2018 to amend their law to restore their right to vote. The Mississippi Legislature may take up one bill at the same time to restore the right of vote to a few people over the next days. The Legislature of Mississippi has not considered joining other states in addressing the issue since 2000, when the Democratic House tried to establish a mechanism to automatically restore voting rights.