WASHINGTON — Maryland lawmakers have succeeded in overriding a veto on felons’ voting rights. That means that up to 40,000 residents with felony convictions could be voting in in Maryland’s April primary.
Perry Hopkins, a Baltimore resident with a felony record says he’ll be able to vote for the first time at the age of 55.
“I now feel part of the process. I now feel like a weight has been lifted, and that I am just like every other citizen walking around the street,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins says without the ability to vote, he had no voice in a political system that demanded he pay his debt to society by serving time.
“Since I came home from prison in 2012, in many ways I’ve been alienated by society … I’ve been paying into a system that makes laws that I can do nothing about,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins says he’s well aware that many people complain about government without exercising their right to vote.
“I’ve been complaining without the ability to vote. I know what the power of the vote does.”
Hopkins says he is not cynical about the political process. “I’m empowered by it,” he says.
Last year, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill to restore the voting rights of felons that would allow them to vote upon release: before finishing probation or parole. Gov. Larry Hogan — a Republican — vetoed that bill.
This year, supporters of the bill pledged to override Hogan’s veto, but that vote was delayed twice to ensure that there would be enough votes in each chamber for an override. Tuesday, the Senate voted 29-18 to override the veto. Last month members of the House of Delegates voted 85-56 to override Hogan’s veto.
