As Twitchy reported back in May, California’s Assembly had just taken a major step toward restoring the vote to felons doing time in county prisons.
The legislation did this by redefining the word “imprisoned.” Seeing as current law disqualified from voting the “mentally incompetent or imprisoned,” AB 2466 proposed amending the law so that “imprisoned” referred specifically to those “currently serving a state or federal prison sentence.” Therefore, those doing time in county prisons were no longer imprisoned and were no longer barred from voting.
Today, along with a giant stack of other bills butting up against the month-end deadline, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law.
Gov. Brown signs law allowing felons in county jails to vote https://t.co/jibJJH2nvC via @latimes
— Patrick McGreevy (@mcgreevy99) September 28, 2016
It’s a public safety bill, see?
Legislative Update: Gov. signed my public safety bills #AB2466 (Voting Rights), #AB2298 (Gang Database Reform & #AB2765 (Prop 47 deadline)
— Asm. Shirley Weber (@AsmShirleyWeber) September 28, 2016
Assemblywoman Shirley Weber had argued the bill would reduce the likelihood of convicts committing new crimes by engaging them in civic participation, which is a deterrent to recidivism, apparently — the scientific study behind that conclusion must have taken decades.
Yet, on Wednesday, she claimed the new law was a victory against discrimination.
“I wrote AB 2466 because I want to send a message to the nation that California will not stand for discrimination in voting,” Weber said after the bill was signed into law.
U.S. Navy veteran and Assembly member Melissa Melendez was critical of the legislation in May, and assured her followers that the signing of the bill into law was not satire.
The Governor signed AB 2466. Felons can now vote in CA from the comfort of their cell. This sadly, is not satire. MM
— Melissa Melendez (@asmMelendez) September 28, 2016
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