Governor Issues Executive Order Restoring Voting Rights to Paroled Felons

May 9th, 2018

Last month, Gov. Cuomo announced that he has issued an executive order that restores voting rights to individuals on parole. The order will impact about 35,000 people, as well as future offenders who are released on parole.

The order does not change state law. It would requiring the commissioner of the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to submit a list of every felon currently on parole, as well as a list of those newly eligible for parole, beginning May 1. The commissioner would continue to submit an updated list each month, with each parolee “given the consideration of a pardon that will restore voting rights without undue delay.”

Gov. Cuomo said:

“I am issuing an executive order giving parolees the right to vote. It is unconscionable to deny voting rights to New Yorkers who have paid their debt and have re-entered society. This reform will reduce disenfranchisement and will help restore justice and fairness to our democratic process. Withholding or delaying voting rights diminishes our democracy.”

Republican Senator Patrick M. Gallivan, chairman of the Crime, Crime Victims and Corrections Committee, charged the Governor with side-stepping the Legislature, and described the unilateral action as an “an affront to law-abiding citizens.”