Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

Maria Perez, 39, from Coney Island, is excited about going to the poll booths this November.  That’s because for the first time in a decade, Perez will get to vote.

“I carry the [acknowledgement] notice all the time, even when I switch bags,” she said.

New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has just launched its public education campaign to raise awareness on the right to vote- among ex-felons.  Perez is just one of them, who didn’t know she had this right as soon as she completed parole.  It didn’t help much either when she was denied by her board of elections, as she claims.  Apparently, the workers are either just as ignorant about the law, or they’re instilling their beliefs into an established legal system, making their actions illegal.

The felony disenfranchisement law been an ongoing controversy with various opposing issues as NYT presented back in 2004, conveniently before the presidential elections.

There has been no other campaign like this one, according to NYCLU.  It will include putting ads in public buses from the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

NYT concludes by highlighting one of the problems of restoring former prisoners the right to vote:

“Voting rights should not be a political football. There should be bipartisan support for efforts to help ex-felons get their voting rights back, by legislators and by state and local election officials. American democracy is diminished when officeholders and political parties, for their own political gain, try to keep people from voting.”

So what is meant by “political gain?”  Many conclude that many of those who re-enter society turn to the more liberal, more “accepting” Democratic party, thus giving more votes to them.

However, NYCLU has reassured that their focus has nothing to do with political feuds.  All they want is to reiterate what already stands.

And in the end, that’s all that really matters- people can bicker all they want, but regarding New York ex-felons, the NYS law still stands:

You can vote even with a criminal conviction IF you:

•are discharged from parole

•are currently on probation
• have been pardoned
• have been convicted of a misdemeanor
• have a max sentence that has expired
•have been convicted but have not been sentenced to imprisonment

And this isn’t a secret, it’s on public record.

Though Perez is just one out of the 115,500 or so New Yorkers with felony offenses under their belts, she’s not a hardcore Democrat, “I’m sort of in between with the parties for now.”  She claims she isn’t influenced by any of the advocacy organizations that has helped her separate fact from fiction when it came to voting rights.

Why do this now?  Might the upcoming elections have anything to do with it?  The campaign is said to run until October 10th, the voter registration deadline.  NYCLU claims it’s a crucial time to get people to vote, to make a change, whether that’s voting for McCain or Obama.   They just want a bigger voter turnout, not to mention do what’s just.

“[Ex-convicts] have done their time, they need this assurance to feel like proper citizens in society…instead of shutting them out, we have to embrace people,” said Corinne Carey, NYCLU Public Policy Counsel.

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