Federal Court Upholds Mississippi Lifetime Felony Disenfranchisement Law

The League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters of Mississippi, along with the Mississippi Center for Justice, One Voice, Mississippi Votes, the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, Black Voters Matter, the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign, the Reaching and Educating for Community Hope (RECH) Foundation, Strong Arms of Mississippi, the Mississippi Prison Reform Coalition, the People’s Advocacy Institute (PAI), and the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) released the following statement after the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Hopkins v. Watson overturned its earlier decision that declared Mississippi’s lifetime felony voting ban unconstitutional.

“Today, the Fifth Circuit overturned an earlier, well-reasoned decision declaring Mississippi’s lifetime felony voting ban unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. In doing so, the court allows Mississippi to continue with its history of disproportionately targeting Black citizens to lose their right to vote. Mississippi’s lifetime voting ban impacts thousands of people with certain past felony convictions. Today’s decision is particularly devastating as we have been without the full power of the Voting Rights Act for over ten years.

“Retaining this ban as part of Mississippi’s constitution is an affront to our democracy. We are disappointed to see the court allow the state to continue taking the right to vote away from Mississippians for life under a state constitutional provision that was specifically designed to disenfranchise Black men and that, to this day, disproportionately impacts Black Mississippians. 

“While we are disappointed with the court’s decision, we will not be deterred. Felony disenfranchisement laws have no place in a true democracy, and we will continue to fight to eliminate the racism in our voting laws so everyone can have equal access to political power and a voice in our democracy.”

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Under Mississippi’s current felony disenfranchisement provision (Section 241), many Mississippians with felony convictions can vote. Only certain Mississippi state court convictions cause a person to lose the right to vote in Mississippi. For a list of the 23 felonies that take away a person’s right to vote under Mississippi’s constitution, visit this page.