HB796:

Voter registration; restoration of political rights upon release from incarceration.

Bill Summary:

Voter registration; restoration of political
rights upon release from incarceration; certain adjudications.
Provides that any person who loses his political rights as a result
of a felony conviction shall be invested with those rights upon his
release from incarceration and shall be entitled to register to vote.
The bill directs the Department of Corrections and the State Board
of Local and Regional Jails to transmit to the Department of Elections
certain information for incarcerated persons with a pending date
of release and requires the Department of Elections to process the
information and make the necessary changes to the voter registration
system to permit such persons to register to vote by the date of
the person's scheduled date of release. On the date of an incarcerated
person's release, the appropriate authority is required by the bill
to provide a voter registration application, information on returning
the form by mail or completing it by electronic means, and an official
release document to serve as a safety net for voter registration.
The bill amends the language regarding adjudications of mental incompetency
for purposes of being qualified to vote; a person adjudicated to
lack the capacity to understand the act of voting shall not be entitled
to vote until that capacity has been reestablished.