As the nation prepares for the upcoming 2012 presidential elections, most Californians are focused on who will be the Republican nominee, and who will take the presidential oath next January. Thousands of Californians may not get to vote in that election as a result of a recent decision by the California secretary of state. The stage now appears to be set for a rematch of a voting rights battle the secretary of state lost in League of Women Voters of California v. McPherson, 145 Cal.App.4th 1469 (2006).

During the 20th century, California, along with almost all other states, moved away from lifetime disenfranchisement of ex-convicts. California’s development was fitful, twisting and turning through ballot initiatives and Supreme Court decisions. But by 2006, with the McPherson decision, the matter seemed to be settled — and the only persons denied the right to vote on criminal justice grounds were those imprisoned in a state prison and those on parole as a result of a felony conviction. In McPherson, the secretary of state and the attorney general had tried to reverse the course on restoration of ex-felon voting rights, by extending disenfranchisement to persons on felony probation who had been sent to jail for violating their terms of probation. The McPherson court rejected this argument and restored the voting rights of felony probationers.

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