Buying ballots

This editorial appeared Tuesday in the Tacoma News Tribune.

It matters not whether state attorneys find a way around Judge Michael Spearman’s ruling last week that unpaid court fines cannot be used to bar felons from voting.

Even if they are successful at reversing the King County Superior Court judge’s decision, they will have settled only the question of whether the state’s law is legal – and not whether it is fair.

Spearman’s ruling has sparked a necessary debate over a fundamental civil right – the right to participate in the democratic process. That debate is one that should continue in the Legislature, regardless of what happens in the courts.

Washington ranks as one of the stingier states when it comes to felons’ voting rights. State law allows felons to petition for restoration only after they have completed their sentences and paid their fines.

The plight of felons barred from voting might not inspire much outrage among law-abiding folks, but the fact that wealthier convicts face a much easier time getting back on the voter registration rolls might. Spearman’s ruling, while steeped in legal argument, also has a good bit to say about the practical considerations of tying the right to vote to the ability to pay.

“There is no logic in the assumption that a person in possession of sufficient resources to pay the obligation immediately is the more law-abiding citizen,” Spearman says. “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.”

For Beverly DuBois – one of the three felons named in the case before Spearman – the state’s law means they might never again be able to vote. DuBois served her time for a 2002 marijuana conviction. Now she makes regular payments to settle her $1,600 fine, but $10 a month is all she says she can afford. That amount doesn’t even cover the interest accruing on her fines.

Four years ago, the state Department of Corrections estimated there were more than 46,000 felons barred from voting solely because they haven’t paid fines. State lawyers argue that prison time and court-ordered fines are equal parts of a felon’s sentence and that Washington can’t make that same distinction – although other states do.

What that argument ignores is the fundamental difference between jail time and financial penalties: A person’s ability to serve prison time is the same regardless of the balance on his bank account. Not so his ability to pay off financial obligations.

The problem is not that the state is withholding the right to vote from felons – that would be perfectly legal and fair. The injustice is that it is making an exception based on financial status. Either give felons who have done their time a way back to the ballot box or not, but don’t let a few buy their way there.

Spearman’s decision should be required reading for state lawmakers, whether or not it’s still standing come next legislative session.