Fight to restore voting rights for felons turns to the courts
Good morning. It's Monday, June 28.
Much like the weekend, Monday brings another day of unsettled weather to Minnesota, with scattered showers and storms. Highs in the upper 70s to mid 80s.
A deal on police accountability? After months of negotiations, Minnesota lawmakers have agreed on a package of new rules governing law enforcement in the state.
The deal includes restrictions on no-knock warrants, on confidential informants and jailhouse witnesses, and on the ability of police to seize suspects’ property. But the bill, negotiated between the Republican-controlled Senate, the DFL-controlled House, and DFL Gov. Tim Walz, doesn’t contain the far-reaching changes that many activists had demanded after recent high-profile deaths at the hands of law enforcement. Reporter David Montgomery has more on this compromise measure and budget negotiations as the July 1 deadline looms. | |
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A voter placed a ballot in the ballot box at St. Paul's Merriam Park Recreation Center in 2011. Civil libertarians are hoping to give felons an expanded right to vote.
Jeffrey Thompson | MPR News 2011
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A lawsuit appealed to the state Supreme Court argues that people convicted of felonies should be able to vote after serving their jail or prison sentence. It’s an issue that Minnesota lawmakers are not taking up for now, but civil liberties activists are trying to keep alive.
Under current Minnesota law, those convicted of a felony are not allowed to vote if they are currently serving a sentence, including probation, parole or supervised release. The law applies even to felons sentenced to probation and who have not served any prison time.
“It effectively said that because they have been convicted of a felony, they can’t vote even though they have been deemed able to work, to live in the community, to pay taxes and to do all the other wonderful things that you know, community members do,” said David McKinney, an attorney with ACLU Minnesota. “Yet, they have been deprived of this particular right until this arbitrary point of completing all aspects of their sentence.”
The ACLU said there are more than 53,000 people across the state who are on probation or on some kind of release and are not able to cast ballots. | |
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Sunisa Lee completes her routine on the uneven bars during the women's U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials on Sunday in St. Louis.
Carmen Mandato | Getty Images
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Simone Biles' Olympic encore is finally here.
The reigning world and Olympic gymnastics champion locked up her spot in Tokyo by easily winning the U.S. Olympic Trials on Sunday night.
St. Paul's Sunisa Lee earned the other automatic bid with a 115.832 while posting the top scores on beam and uneven bars and actually putting up a higher all-around score than Biles on the night.
Jordan Chiles — who hasn't fallen in 24 routines in 2021, something even Biles can't say — is also heading to Tokyo two years after it appeared her elite career might be in jeopardy.
Grace McCallum of Isanti, Minn., rounds out the four-woman team after coming in fourth during trials. | |
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