{"id":197,"date":"2023-10-20T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/press-releases\/democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T09:00:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:00:12","slug":"democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/press\/democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy Leaders Pledge Minnesotans\u2019 Rights \u2018Will Not Be Undermined\u2019"},"template":"","class_list":["post-197","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"St. PAUL, MN \u2014 Earlier this week, a Mille Lacs County judge made a brazen attempt to bar two individuals with felony convictions from voting. The attempt comes in spite of the recent signing of the Restore the Vote Act, which returned and maintained voting rights to Minnesotans with felony convictions who are not currently incarcerated.","featured_image":"","press_type":145,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":7871}"],"related_issues":[109,396],"related_work":false,"location":26},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<b>St. PAUL, MN \u2014 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this week, a Mille Lacs County judge made a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mprnews.org\/story\/2023\/10\/19\/public-defenders-attorney-general-challenge-judges-sentences-prohibiting-voting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">brazen attempt<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to bar two individuals with felony convictions from voting. The attempt comes in spite of the recent signing of the Restore the Vote Act, which returned and maintained voting rights to Minnesotans with felony convictions who are not currently incarcerated.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, issued the following statement in lieu of this attack against thousands of Minnesotans:\r\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n\u201cMinnesotans of all backgrounds united to pass Restore the Vote \u2013 so more eligible voters can have a voice in our democracy. This landmark civil rights bill has resulted in over <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mn.gov\/governor\/newsroom\/press-releases\/?id=1055-567631\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">55,000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of our friends, family and neighbors statewide becoming re-enfranchised and regaining their right to vote.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, one judge\u2019s actions attempt to renege on that success, threatening Minnesota\u2019s democracy in the process.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Felony disenfranchisement laws are antiquated and have a disgraceful past. <\/b><b>\r\n<\/b><b>\r\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These laws not only have a disproportionate impact on communities of color and low-income communities, but also have no criminal deterrent or rehabilitative value. The rights of our friends and neighbors will not be undermined, and we refuse to go back to the status quo.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\r\n<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>We want to be clear: formerly incarcerated Minnesotans still have the right to vote.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> But it\u2019s important now more than ever to speak up and make sure the actions of one rogue judge don\u2019t cause fear or dissension.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our right to vote is not a red or blue issue, it\u2019s an American democracy issue. We won\u2019t stop fighting to continue to protect that right.\u201d<\/span>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">###<\/span><\/p>"}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democracy Leaders Pledge Minnesotans\u2019 Rights \u2018Will Not Be Undermined\u2019 - Common Cause Minnesota<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/press-releases\/democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democracy Leaders Pledge Minnesotans\u2019 Rights \u2018Will Not Be Undermined\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/press\/democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Minnesota\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/press-releases\/democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/minnesota\/press-releases\/democracy-leaders-pledge-minnesotans-rights-will-not-be-undermined\/\",\"name\":\"Democracy Leaders Pledge Minnesotans\u2019 Rights \u2018Will Not Be Undermined\u2019 - 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