On July 24, identical bills were introduced in both Houses of Congress to require the states to let ex-felons vote in federal elections. They are HR 3335 and S1516. They provide, “The right of an individual who is a citizen of the United States to vote in any election for Federal office shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution or facility at the time of the election.”

S1516 is sponsored by Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and has two co-sponsors. HR 3335 is sponsored by Congressmember John Conyers (D-Michigan) and has 28 co-sponsors.

There are three major groups of competent adult U.S. citizens who are frequently denied the free exercise of the vote: (1) felons and ex-felons; (2) residents of the District of Columbia and the territories; (3) members of minor parties and supporters of independent candidates. The harm to voting rights to any of these three groups tends to bolster the harm to the other groups as well. Deprivation of voting rights of one type excuses the deprivation of voting rights of other types.

Therefore, it is fitting that Congressman John Conyers, who introduced bills to outlaw restrictive ballot access laws affecting minor party and independent candidates repeatedly in the 1980’s, is the lead sponsor of HR 3335. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the news about these bills.

On July 27, New Jersey independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett announced that his Lieutenant Governor running mate will be Frank J. Esposito. Esposito is the interim dean for the College of Education at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.

The ticket is entitled to $700,000 in public funding, because Daggett had raised $350,000 earlier this year in private donations. The election is November 3, 2009.

Except in California, no state legislature is likely to be considering election law bills during August.

Rhode Island’s House is not expected to come back into session until September, when the House may perhaps pass SB 203, which eases ballot access for new parties.

New York’s legislature is on recess and probably won’t return until September.

Pennsylvania’s legislature is in session, but there is no budget yet, so all attention is diverted to the budget bills. When they finally pass, the legislature is likely to recess.

Ohio’s legislature is not likely to resume normal activity until mid-September.

In Illinois, where the legislature is gone for the year, Governor Pat Quinn still hasn’t acted on HB 723. The legislature sent it to him on June 26. He must act by late August. HB 723 is the bill that makes it more difficult for ballot-qualified parties to nominate someone after the February primary is over.