March 28, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org
SEATTLE -- In a
landmark ruling, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman today struck
down a Washington law that denies the right to vote to thousands of ex-felons
solely because they owe court-imposed fines. The American Civil Liberties Union
of Washington filed the lawsuit on behalf of three individuals who are unable to
vote because they are too poor to pay off their court-imposed financial
obligations.
“It is well recognized that there is simply no
rational relationship between the ability to pay and the exercise of
constitutional rights,” Judge Spearman wrote in his decision. "There is no logic
in the assumption that a person in possession of sufficient resources to pay the
[legal financial] obligation immediately is the more law-abiding citizen.
Indeed, the better example of respect for our justice system may very well be
the indigent who manages for years to make monthly payments toward the
obligation.”
ACLU of Washington Executive Director Kathleen Taylor
applauded Judge Spearman’s decision.
"Today's ruling puts an end to
this modern form of the poll tax," said Taylor. "The right to vote is one of our
most fundamental rights in a democracy. After people have completed their prison
time and have been released back into society, our state should not impose
economic barriers to voting."
Under the state law challenged in the
ACLU lawsuit, even though individuals have finished their prison terms, they are
not allowed to vote until they completely satisfy a growing number of fines and
other financial obligations. The obligations can include docket and filing fees,
court costs, restitution and costs of incarceration. Interest on these
court-imposed assessments accrues at the exorbitant rate of 12 percent a
year.
According to Washington’s statistics, more than 90
percent of felony defendants are indigent at the time of charging. It is no
surprise that many ex-felons find it difficult to pay these financial
assessments upon release, said the ACLU.
The ACLU called the
problem widespread and said it hits people of color especially hard. Overall,
more than 250,000 people in Washington cannot vote because of a prior felony
conviction. Disenfranchisement affects about four percent of
eligible voters in Washington – almost double the national average. And, given
the racial disparity in Washington's incarceration rate, the state
disenfranchises almost 25 percent of all voting-age African American
males.
The ACLU lawsuit does not seek to eliminate any financial
obligations an ex-felon has been assessed. It only asks that the right to vote
not be limited by one's financial ability after release. The state has other
means to pursue former felons who fail to satisfy their legal financial
obligations.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Dan Madison of King
County, Beverly DuBois of Spokane County and Dannielle Garner of Snohomish
County. The case (Madison v. State of Washington) drew national attention this
year when the New York Times profiled DuBois, who cannot even afford to keep up
with the state-imposed interest charges because her only income is from
disability payments. A Times editorial on Feb. 27, 2006 called Washington's
system "a form of disenfranchisement that is straight out of Oliver Twist." The
editorial concluded that, "Washington's policy of stripping people of their
right to vote until they can cough up enough money to pay these unfair charges
is morally outrageous."
The ACLU is also working on legislation
that will restore ex-felons' rights to vote when they have completed their
prison terms and community supervision. The proposal would ensure that an
individual's right to vote, which the ACLU said is the most important role and
responsibility one has as a citizen, is not conditioned on one's economic
status.
Attorneys for the ACLU in this case are Peter Danelo, Molly
Terwilliger, Darin Sands and Timothy McMichael of the firm Heller Ehrman White
& McAuliffe, ACLU of Washington staff attorney Aaron Caplan, and Neil
Bradley of the ACLU Voting Rights Project.
