October 16, 2012

ANN SANNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Voter rights groups in Ohio took issue Tuesday with an order from the state's elections chief that bans local boards of elections from calling or emailing voters in the presidential battleground state about errors or incomplete information on their absentee ballots.

Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, issued a directive earlier this month that requires boards to notify voters by mail if their ballots are invalid.

October 8, 2012

TRYMAINE LEE, HUFFINGTON POST

Eric Bates was caught twice in the late 1990s driving with a suspended license, and then again in 2006. That third time, under then-Virginia law, Bates was considered a habitual offender and was prosecuted as a felon.

He served 14 months in prison and was released in 2008. He returned home hoping to put his legal issues behind him and move on with his life.

But like many of the nearly 1 million people who are released from correctional facilities each year, Bates said he has had difficulty finding steady work and making ends meet. His rather pedestrian criminal record has also come with one other lingering consequence: Bates has found himself among the approximately 5.8 million whose voting rights have been taken away because of a felony conviction.