South Carolina H 3006: Felon voting rights

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3006 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3006

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A concurrent RESOLUTION

to Acknowledge the general assembly's belief that a 
felony conviction should no longer disqualify a person from being registered or 
voting who is no longer incarcerated.

Whereas, the United 
States maintains greater restrictions on the voting rights of individuals who 
are currently incarcerated or convicted of felonies and certain other offenses 
than most other democratic countries; and

Whereas, as of 2022, 
more than 4.4 million people in the United States were disenfranchised because 
of a felony conviction; and

Whereas, many states' 
felony disenfranchisement laws are historically rooted in racism and date back 
to the Post-Reconstruction era when some states, particularly those in the 
South, sought to restrict the voting rights of Black citizens through both the 
enactment of felony disenfranchisement laws and the expansion of crimes 
classified as felonies; and

Whereas, the impact of the 
historic racism associated with felony disenfranchisement laws persists to this 
day, rendering Black Americans ineligible to vote at a rate four times greater 
than all other Americans combined; and 

Whereas, in two states 
and the District of Columbia, felons maintain their voting rights even during 
incarceration, and in twenty-three states felons lose their voting rights only 
while incarcerated; and

Whereas, South Carolina 
continues to disenfranchise those convicted of felonies even after release from 
prison, often extending until the completion of probation, parole, or other 
supervised release, or the receipt of a pardon. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate 
concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General 
Assembly, by this resolution, believe a felony conviction should no longer 
disqualify a person from being registered or voting who is no longer 
incarcerated.

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This web page was last updated on December 06, 2024 at 09:54 AM