By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) New York state will restore the voting rights of 35,000 parolees under an executive order issued Wednesday by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The move will add New York to a list of more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia that automatically give convicted felons the right to vote once they have completed their prison sentences.
Cuomo said the voting prohibition disproportionately impacts minorities, noting that nearly three-fourths of those currently on parole in New York are black or Latino. He said giving people back the right to vote can be one way of helping them re-establish ties to their communities as law-abiding citizens.
“It is unconscionable to deny voting rights to New Yorkers who have paid their debt and have re-entered society,” Cuomo said. “This reform will reduce disenfranchisement and will help restore justice and fairness to our democratic process. Withholding or delaying voting rights diminishes our democracy.”
Criminal justice reform advocates hailed the move. Myrna Perez, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, called it “an enormous step forward.”
By issuing an executive order, Cuomo was able to sidestep the state Legislature, where the Republican leaders of the state Senate could have blocked the move. State GOP Chairman Ed Cox called the order “liberal lunacy” and “an outrageous power grab” intended to placate the liberal base of Cuomo’s party.
“Cuomo’s actions are purely political, designed to appeal to radical primary voters and satisfy his presidential ambitions,” he said.
Cuomo faces a spirited primary challenge this fall from “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon, a liberal activist who has accused Cuomo of failing to follow through on liberal promises during his two terms as governor. On Wednesday, her campaign said the executive order was more evidence that he’s feeling the pressure from the left.
“Now he’s scared of communities all across New York who want to replace him with a real Democrat,” Nixon said in a statement. “We don’t buy the governor’s new song-and-dance routine.”
