Quote:
Originally Posted by nonny too
That was my impression too - that there are a lot of "everyone knows this" things which are only kind of sort of correct about US law. It's hard enough here in my country where we only have a handful of state laws to keep track of - I now pretty much assume that whenever anyone says "in the US" that unless they can point me to a SCOTUS ruling on the issue then they are making assumptions based on their local laws (which is fine - why one earth would anyone not licensed to practise in all 50 states of the US even be expected to know of those regional variations).
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It very much depends on which state. Some states have no restrictions, so they'll even allow for absentee ballots to be delivered to jails, prisons etc. (very few from memory does that). Many (and mine is one - Michigan) restrict voting to those who can get to the polls (ie they'll not send absentee ballots to the jails etc. so if you're on the street on voting day, you can vote, as long as you're registered etc.). The most restrictive I can recall was Florida (perhaps others, but a small number) where criminal conviction gets you disenfranchised for life, even if the offense occurred elsewhere (remember, that was one of the problems w/the Bush/Gore election , they'd tossed out registrations for folks if their name cropped up on a convicted felon list. Bad news if your name was common). You can, in Florida, though request to be reinstated and some panel somewhere will review it (so Dick Cheney and George W. Bush wouldn't necessarily be automatically disenfranchised should them move to Florida).