Felons and Voting Rights
I. Voting Eligibility.
Who is Eligible to Vote in Washington?
To be eligible to vote, a person must be:
- A United States citizen;
- At least 18 years of age; and
- A resident of the precinct for at least 30 days before the election.
These minimum requirements are in the Washington State Constitution (Article VI, Section 1).
Who is Ineligible to Vote?
A person loses the right to vote if he or she is:
- Judicially declared mentally incompetent; or
- Convicted of an “infamous crime,” and the person’s civil rights have not been restored.
These disqualifications are in the Washington State Constitution (Article VI, Section 3)
What is an “Infamous Crime?”
An “infamous crime” is “a crime punishable by death in the state penitentiary or imprisonment in a state correctional facility.”
Only a felony offense can be punishable by death or imprisonment in a state correctional facility. State correctional facilities, commonly known as prisons, are under the authority of the state Department of Corrections.
Consequently, a conviction for a felony disqualifies a person from voting until the right to vote is restored.
What if the person never served time in prison?
If the person was convicted of a felony, the person is disqualified from voting until the right to vote is restored. Even if the person never actually served time in prison, the felony conviction is punishable in prison and therefore disqualifies the person from voting until the right is restored.
Does a Misdemeanor Conviction Disqualify a Person from Voting?
No, a misdemeanor offense has a maximum sentence of one year or less. A misdemeanor cannot be punishable by imprisonment in a state correctional facility because only sentences over one year may be served in a state correctional facility.
Consequently, a conviction for a misdemeanor does not disqualify a person from voting.
Does a Conviction in Juvenile Court Disqualify a Person from Voting?
No, a sentence for a juvenile court conviction is not served in a state correctional facility, but in a juvenile detention facility or a facility under the authority of the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration.
Consequently, a juvenile court conviction does not disqualify a person from voting.
However, a person under the age of 18 can be convicted in “adult” Superior Court, rather than juvenile court. A person who is convicted of a felony in adult court may be sentenced to a correctional facility, even if under the age of 18. In that case, the felony conviction does disqualify the person from voting until the right to vote is restored.
II. Getting the Right to Vote Restored.
How Can a Person Get the Right to Vote Restored?
Generally, a person must complete all the requirements of all felony sentences before the right to vote may be restored. This also applies to the right to serve on a jury, sign an initiative, or run for office.
For example, if a person was convicted of a felony in 1998, 2000 and 2002, the person must complete the sentences for all three cases before the right to vote is restored. In order to complete a felony sentence, the person is no longer supervised by the Department of Corrections, has paid off all fines, restitution and other court costs, and has completed all other outstanding requirements.
By itself, a Certificate of Discharge may not confirm that a felon is once again eligible to vote. A felon must have a Certificate of Discharge, or other order indicating that the sentence is complete, for each felony conviction. Consequently, a felon might have a Certificate of Discharge for a 1998 conviction, but is still ineligible to vote due to outstanding convictions from 2000 and 2002.
The specific process for getting the right to vote restored depends on when and where the person was convicted.
If the Felony Occurred Since July 1, 1984:
The Superior Court where the person was convicted is commonly known as “the sentencing court.” The sentencing court will issue a Certificate of Discharge once all requirements of the felony sentence have been completed.
The Certificate of Discharge is proof that the sentence for that conviction has been completed. The Certificate does not restore the right to possess firearms and does not clear the conviction for purposes of criminal histories or employment background checks.
The person should first check the court file in the County Clerk’s Office to see if a Certificate of Discharge has already been issued. A Certificate of Discharge may have been issued and placed in the court file even if the felon never received a copy. If the sentencing court has already issued a Certificate, the person should request a copy.
If the person has paid all fines, restitution and other costs, DOC has ended all supervision, and the sentencing court still has not issued a Certificate of Discharge, the person may petition the sentencing court to issue the Certificate.
The Administrative Office of the Courts has forms and additional information about petitioning the sentencing court for the Certificate of Discharge.
If the person was not convicted of a violent offense or a sex offense, has served at least half of the term of community supervision, and has completed all other sentence requirements, the person may petition the sentencing court for a Certificate of Discharge. The court may consider the petition, but is not required to issue a Certificate of Discharge.
If the Felony Occurred Before July 1, 1984:
If the felony occurred prior to July 1, 1984, and the person has completed all requirements of the sentence, the person may petition the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board. The Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board has additional information on its website. The Board may be reached at (360) 493-9266.
If the person received a suspended sentence instead of a prison term, and completed all requirements of the suspended sentence, the person should check the court file in the County Clerk’s Office to see if a Certificate of Discharge has already been issued. A Certificate of Discharge may have already been issued and placed in the court file, even if the felon never received a copy. If the sentencing court has not already issued a Certificate, the person can petition the court to issue a Certificate. The Administrative Office of the Courts has forms and additional information about petitioning the sentencing court for the Certificate of Discharge.
If the Conviction was in Federal Court:
The Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board has the authority to restore civil rights for a person convicted of a felony in federal court. For more information about petitioning the Clemency and Pardons Board, call (360) 902-4111.
If the Conviction Occurred in another State:
Each state has its own laws regarding losing the right to vote if convicted of a felony. For example, some states restore the right to vote as soon as the prison term is completed. In Maine and Vermont, a convicted felon does not lose the right to vote. In every other state, persons convicted of a felony lose the right to vote for a period of time.
If the person would be eligible to vote in the state where convicted, the person is eligible to vote in Washington. Click here for a map showing voting rights restoration laws in other states. Contact the state elections office in the state where convicted to find out how to restore the right to vote.
If the right to vote has not been restored under the laws of the state where convicted, the person may petition the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board for an order restoring the right to vote. Call (360) 902-4111.
Pardons:
A pardon by the Governor or the President restores the right to vote.
Where can a Person Obtain Assistance?
The Administrative Office of the Courts has forms and additional information about petitioning the sentencing court for the Certificate of Discharge.
Assistance and additional information may be available from the following organizations:
Voting Before the Right to Vote is Restored:
Knowingly registering to vote when not eligible is a class C felony.
Knowingly voting when not eligible is a class C felony.
A class C felony is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Click here for relevant law.
III. Screening for Ineligible Felons.
What Screening for Felons is Occurring?
Washington law requires voters to be registered in order to vote in an election.
The Secretary of State's Office maintains one statewide list of voters that serves as the official list of registered voters for Washington. The statewide list of voters is maintained in the state voter registration database, known as the “VRDB.” The VRDB was launched in 2006 following state and federal legislation that passed in 2002. More information about the voter registration database is available here.
State law requires the Secretary of State’s Office to use available data to screen the list of registered voters for ineligible felons. Four times a year, the Secretary of State’s Office compares information on the 3.5 million people registered to vote to felon data maintained by other state agencies.
The matching criteria used for these screenings are first name, middle initial, last name, and date of birth.
Are All Felons who are Ineligible to Vote Prevented from Registering?
There is no list of all people who are ineligible to vote.
This is because the requirements in state law for regaining the right to vote do not match the databases of information available. While state law requires a person to have completed all requirements of all felony convictions in order to regain the right to vote, there is no database that accurately lists a history of all people who have ever been convicted of a felony while simultaneously excluding those felons who have completed all requirements of all felony sentences.
Whether the right to vote has been restored is based on the status of court files, not the person. There is no criminal background investigation conducted each time a person registers to vote.
To absolutely guarantee that each person who votes in an election has not previously been disqualified due to a felony conviction, at the time that each voted ballot is received, a criminal background investigation would have to be conducted on the voter returning that voted ballot.
However, the Secretary of State’s Office and the 39 county elections departments investigate known ineligible voters, conduct quarterly screenings using the information that is available, follow up on notices received from the Superior Courts and the federal courts, and cancel the registrations of voters who are ineligible to vote.
Cases of ineligible voters casting a ballot in an election are referred to County Prosecuting Attorneys’ Offices. Knowingly voting when ineligible is a felony offense.
There are three state agencies that maintain data on convicted felons. The Secretary of State’s Office currently uses two of these three sources to screen for ineligible felons.
The Department of Corrections:
The Secretary of State’s Office does use information from the Department of Corrections to screen for ineligible felons.
Department of Corrections data includes both felons who are in a Department of Corrections facility, such as a prison, and felons who are out in the community but still under Department of Corrections supervision, commonly known as probation. Anyone who is incarcerated in a Department of Corrections facility or under Department of Corrections supervision for a felony conviction is ineligible to vote because the person has not yet completed the sentence.
Administrative Office of the Courts:
The Secretary of State’s Office does use information from the Administrative Office of the Courts to screen for ineligible felons.
The Superior Courts maintain the court files for felony criminal cases. Court files, both the physical file and the electronic version, are managed on a case-by-case basis. The Administrative Office of the Courts database was developed to manage civil and criminal cases in the Superior Courts. It was not developed to run queries for voting eligibility.
For convictions prior to 2006, the Administrative Office of the Courts database maintained information on whether a criminal charge in Superior Court resulted in a criminal conviction. But the database did not systematically differentiate a misdemeanor conviction from a felony conviction. Because the right to vote is only revoked due to a felony conviction, this distinction is crucial. It is likely that this information is available in each court file, in the event that someone researches the outcome of a particular case. But it is not available as a separate field of information that could be queried, which is essential in order to screen against a list of 3.5 million people. A criminal background investigation is not conducted for each registered voter.
Beginning in 2006, the Administrative Office of the Courts database began to track, as a separate field of information, whether each Superior Court conviction is a felony. Using this information, these criminal cases can be identified more accurately.
Similar changes have occurred with regards to Certificates of Discharge. Historically, courts have issued a variety of court orders that all had the same legal effect of restoring the right to vote. This variety did not systematically capture which cases were complete and which were not. Beginning in 2006, the courts began to use consistent coding to identify that a Certificate of Discharge has been issued for a case.
Consequently, the Secretary of State’s Office does use information from the Administrative Office of the Courts regarding felony convictions dating back through 2006, but does not use information from the Administrative Office of the Courts regarding felony convictions that occurred prior to 2006.
Washington State Patrol:
The Secretary of State’s Office does not use data from the Washington State Patrol criminal history database to screen for ineligible felons because this data is over-inclusive.
The Washington State Patrol is the central repository for criminal history information for the state. Fingerprint images, and information about the subsequent cases, are submitted by local criminal justice agencies and entered into a central database. Because the purpose is to record all arrest and conviction information for each person, and because criminal defendants often provide aliases, the data is organized according to fingerprint images, not name and date of birth information.
For example, the first time a person is arrested the person’s fingerprints are taken by the arresting law enforcement agency and sent to the Washington State Patrol. The Washington State Patrol assigns each set of prints a State Identification (SID) Number. Any name and date of birth information provided at the time of the arrest are listed with that State Identification number. From then on, every time that person comes into the criminal justice system and fingerprints are taken, such as another arrest or a conviction in Superior Court, the person’s fingerprints are matched to the pre-existing State Identification number, and any additional name and date of birth information also gets listed under that State Identification number. Because a felon may provide a variety of names and dates of birth each time he or she is arrested, after a period of time, one set of prints may have two dozen names and a dozen dates of birth listed with it.
The purpose of the Washington State Patrol database is to provide fingerprint background checks on individuals. These background checks are conducted for a particular person, or for a particular set of prints. The data is not intended to wholesale screen 3.5 million registered voters.
The Washington State Patrol data includes arrest and conviction information. The WSP database does not track whether a sentence was subsequently completed, or a conviction that was subsequently overturned on appeal. The WSP database was not developed for criminal justice purposes, not for purposes of determining voting eligibility.
The Secretary of State’s Office and some County Clerk’s Offices analyzed a small sample of records following a comparison of WSP data to the statewide list of registered voters. County Clerk’s Offices researched approximately 330 records in which WSP records matched information in the statewide list of voters. Only about 48% of the WSP records sampled were valid for purposes of a statewide felon screening.
Will All Ineligible Felons Be Identified in these Screenings?
No. Felons who were convicted prior to 2006, and are no longer in a Department of Corrections prison or under Department of Corrections supervision, cannot be identified in these screenings because they are not included in the Department of Corrections data or the Administrative Office of the Courts data.
For example, a person who was convicted in 1992 and is no longer under Department of Corrections supervision, but still owes money for fines and restitution, is ineligible to vote because the sentence is not yet complete. This person would not be identified in the Department of Corrections data because he is no longer in the Department of Corrections system, and would not be identified in the data from the Administrative Office of the Courts because his conviction occurred prior to 2006. This person would not be identified in the quarterly screenings.
There is no reliable list that identifies all ineligible felons accurately. The databases used by these three agencies were developed for their intended purposes in the criminal justice system:
- Department of Corrections – to track inmates;
- Administrative Office of the Courts – to track civil and criminal court cases; and
- Washington State Patrol – to provide all arrest and disposition information for fingerprint background checks.
The intended purpose of these databases was not to determine voting eligibility.
How Else Are Felons Identified?
The County Clerk’s Offices in each county are required to send the County Auditor a copy or list of Superior Court convictions. This usually occurs on a weekly basis. County Auditors are also periodically notified of felony convictions in federal court. The County Auditor must cancel the voter registration of a person who has just been convicted of a felony. Since the beginning of 2006, approximately 6,842 registrations have been cancelled due to a felony conviction based on information received from a County Clerk's Office or federal court.
What does the Secretary of State’s Office do with Voters Identified in a Felon Screening?
Each voter identified in a felon screening is sent a letter explaining that:
- A person who has been convicted of a felony is disqualified from voting until the right is restored;
- The voter has been identified as ineligible to vote due to information maintained by the Courts or by the Department of Corrections;
- The voter's registration will be cancelled in 30 days unless he or she contacts his or her county elections office to dispute the information.
A flyer is provided with the letter to explain how to get the right to vote restored, including contact information for the 39 County Clerk's Offices in the state.
Any voter who receives this letter and feels that there has been an error is encouraged to contact his or her county elections office to request a hearing. For more information on the hearing process, click here.
Once the letter is mailed, the voter’s registration status is changed to “pending cancellation.” The person is not mailed a ballot while the cancellation is pending. The person must contact the County Auditor’s Office within 30 days to dispute the pending cancellation. Reasons for disputing the finding could be that the conviction was not a felony, that the person has completed his sentence, or that the person convicted and the person registered are not the same person.
If the person does not dispute the finding, or is unsuccessful, the registration is cancelled after 30 days. Since the beginning of 2006, approximately 4,484 registrations have been cancelled due to a felony conviction based on a screening by the Secretary of State’s Office.