Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington’s ban on felon voting will go before an 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco Tuesday.

Earlier this year, a 3-judge panel from that same court ruled that the ban violates the Voting Rights Act.

Washington prohibits prison inmates and former inmates on probation from voting. Secretary of State Sam Reed says the ban goes back to when Washington was a territory and notes 47 other states have some form of felon voter disenfranchisement.

Sam Reed: “We believe the loss of voting rights is really a reasonable and appropriate sanction for society to demand of felons while they are behind bars or on community supervision.”

But attorney Dale Ho with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund alleges the felon voting ban violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because the policy disproportionately affects African-Americans.

Dale Ho: “Even if a punishment is reasonable it shouldn’t be meted out to a group of people more frequently just because of the color of their skin.”

Ho represents six Washington felons who filed suit 14 years ago.

In Washington, African Americans make up 4-percent of the general population, but 17-percent of the prison population.