Montrose Woman Wants to Vote; Hooks Up with ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of a Montrose woman who wants to get her voting rights back.

Iowa A-C-L-U spokesperson, Veronica Fowler, says Kelli Jo Griffin lost her voting rights after being convicted of a non-violent felony drug charge in 2008.
Fowler says there is a process where you can apply to have your voting rights restored, but it is not easy.

She says her organization has tried to help people work through the process to restore their voting rights.

She says they used a number of communications people and lawyers and still found it a difficult and confusing process. Fowler says the lawsuit asks the court to restore the voting rights automatically to Griffin and others who have lower-level, non-violent felonies.

Fowler says a series of executive orders from Iowa governors covering voting rights for felons made things even more confusing. She says Griffin was charged in 2013 for voting in a school election after her lawyer correctly told her she could vote again after serving her sentence. But an executive order by Governor Terry Branstad in 2011 changed that, as it overturned the previous policy that automatically restored the rights of felons to vote and requires them to apply to have their rights restored. A jury acquitted her, but she is still barred from voting. The lawsuit names Governor Branstad, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz, and Lee County Auditor Denise Fraise as defendants. Schultz’s spokesman says the Secretary of State’s legal department has not yet seen the lawsuit, so they cannot comment on it at this time.