What happens if you commit a crime? Well, you go to prison, of course. In our state, you also lose your right to vote.

But now, a pair of judges on the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco wants to reverse that and given felons back their voting rights.

Their ruling is a travesty of justice that must be overturned.

The judges – two on a three-judge panel – reason that our state’s criminal-justice system is “infected” with racial discrimination. And that, they go on to say, violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising minority voters. Never mind that the 1965 act was written to outlaw poll taxes or literacy tests that kept minorities from voting.

In fact, minorities aren’t prohibited from voting in our state, only felons – of all colors. Want to keep your right to vote in elections? Simple. Don’t commit a crime. If you do commit a crime, state law lets you vote again once you serve your time in prison and make good on the terms of your release.

The ruling from the 9th Circuit is directly opposite of what three other federal courts have ruled: Massachusetts (in 2009), New York (in 2006), and Florida (in 2005).

What apparently influenced the judges in the 9th Circuit was social-science data that showed that minorities in our state were stopped, arrested and convicted in disproportionate rates to others. That, they said, makes the state law inherently discriminatory.

Bosh.

Police patrol some areas more than others because they they know more crime is committed there. They’ve been summoned time after time by residents reporting those crimes. Do minorities live there? Perhaps. But so do whites. It isn’t the color of the skin that’s important. When the police catch lawbreakers – and they’re convicted – they go to prison.

Wisely, our state Attorney General – Bellevue’s Rob McKenna – has asked the 9th Circuit Court to stay any issuance of a mandate while the state appeals the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The High Court needs to weigh in on this issue given the different ruling from different federal courts.

If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the case, McKenna plans to argue it himself. He argued and won a similar felon voting case before the Washington Supreme Court in 2007.

For the sake of law-abiding people, we hope he does again.

– Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporter