ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997             TAG: 9701300066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 

FELONIES BAR VOTING FOR 14% OF BLACK MEN

Fourteen percent of black men are currently or permanently barred from voting either because they are in prison or because they have been convicted of a felony, according to a study to be released today.

Of a total voting age population of 10.4 million black men nationwide, an estimated 1.46 million have lost the right to vote because of a felony conviction, said the study by the Sentencing Project in Washington.

About 510,000 are permanently barred from voting in 13 states, including Virginia, that remove for life the right to vote for most felons, the study found.

The other states that permanently remove voting rights are Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee and Wyoming. Only four states - Maine, Massachusetts, Utah and Vermont - do not bar prison inmates from voting.

- The New York Times

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