Can Ted Stevens Vote for Himself? Not Anymore

The New York Times reports, correctly, that Sen. Stevens can run for reelection despite his convicted felon status:

"Despite being a convicted felon, [Sen. Ted Stevens] is not required to drop out of the race or resign from the Senate. If he wins re-election, he can continue to hold his seat because there is no rule barring felons from serving in Congress. The Senate could vote to expel Stevens on a two-thirds vote."

Ironically, though, it looks like Stevens may not be able to vote for himself. Felons whose crimes involve "moral turpitude" (defined by state law to include bribery, Alaska Stat. 15.60.010(9)) cannot vote in Alaska, at least until their civil rights are restored, which only happens when "a person is released from all disability arising under a conviction and sentence, including probation and parole." (The statute is at this citation: Alaska Stat. 15.60.010(39).) Deregistration from the voting rolls is automatic upon conviction.

Stevens was convicted of violating ethics disclosure rules. Technically the indictment charged violation of the federal criminal statute 18 U.S.C. 1001, which makes it a crime to knowingly fill out a federal form falsely. I guess the question now is whether that offense fits within the definition of a "felony involving moral turpitude" under Alaska law, below:

(9) "felony involving moral turpitude" includes those crimes that are immoral or wrong in themselves such as murder, manslaughter, assault, sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful exploitation of a minor, robbery, extortion, coercion, kidnapping, incest, arson, burglary, theft, forgery, criminal possession of a forgery device, offering a false instrument for recording, scheme to defraud, falsifying business records, commercial bribe receiving, commercial bribery, bribery, receiving a bribe, perjury, perjury by inconsistent statements, endangering the welfare of a minor, escape, promoting contraband, interference with official proceedings, receiving a bribe by a witness or a juror, jury tampering, misconduct by a juror, tampering with physical evidence, hindering prosecution, terroristic threatening, riot, criminal possession of explosives, unlawful furnishing of explosives, promoting prostitution, criminal mischief, misconduct involving a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance, permitting an escape, promoting gambling, possession of gambling records, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography;

I would guess it does, but I invite input from the legal experts out there in the comments. If I'm right about that, Stevens joins the 5.3 million Americans who will be denied the right to vote because of their status as felons. In about a dozen states, one can lose the right to vote even after your probation is over. More on that issue generally here.

UPDATE: See the discussion below in the comments regarding whether Stevens is officially "convicted" (for purposes of the Alaska voter laws) upon the jury issuing its verdict, or whether something more needs to happen -- the judge issuing a final sentence (which won't happen here until February), or a "judgment of conviction" under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(k), which would include the results of the sentencing (and thus would also issue far after the election). Murky issues like this, at the intersection of state and federal law, are what we lawyers get paid the big bucks to sort out.

--October 27, 2008

Comments

[3in1]

He did!!!!!!! Were you at the track with juror 11???

[mlaiuppa]

Apparently, Stevens has his own exception to the law, either because he is a senator or because he is a Republican. Or maybe just because he's Ted Stevens. It is now official. He can vote until his is sentenced and all appeals are over. Interestingly enough, two other convicted felons in Alaska said they received notice immediately upon conviction that their voting rights were rescinded even though both of them still have appeals pending. Gee, ain't it great to be a Republican Senator.

But not for long. I heard Begrich is ahead 22 points.

[Mozart123]

Stevens is 12 years older than McCain. If re-elected he'l be 91 at the end of his term. On the other hand, if he's given the maximum sentence of 35 years, he'll be 119 when he gets out of the hoosegow.

[larry278]

What if Gov Palin restores the civil right to vote to Ted before 11/4/08? He has served Ak in the US Senate for 40 years, supported statehood & talked Seward into buying Ak from the Russians.

[libbygirl]

Just another WTF moment. A convicted felon can be a Senator but he can't vote?!!

[DavidNOE]

Does anyone besides me wonder what felonies do NOT involve moral turpitude?

[Amalek]

If he is now a convicted felon, does he lose his voter registration in Alaska?

Does Alaska require that candidates for public office be registered to vote? I know Colorado does, because a few announced candidates had to drop out because of this.

We need some lawyering up in Alaska.

[HenryDavid]

Beyond a felony conviction, he's a U.S. Senator in a position of high public trust who repeatedly betrayed that trust to enrich himself illegally and then lie about it. Sen. Stevens needs to go to jail.

At the risk of being idealistic, I'll mention what I'd like to see. I believe all congressmen, when assuming office, should take an oath of honesty with the added clause that if they take a bribe or payoff and are convicted of such, they agree to resign immediately and go to jail. We might be able to raise the quality and character of representatives a notch or two.

[preemptivelove]

obviously i meant "bribery". anyway, he wasn't convicted of that, so not sure if this piece is true. they didn't pursue bribery charges/a quid pro quo. sad but true.

[preemptivelove]

love this piece, but......

stevens was intentionally not prosecuted for or convicted of "briber". oh well. nice try.

[fredfep]

I don't think he's a felon yet, before sentencing and appeals, is he?

[Fez]

He has been a felon for years. It was just confirmed yesterday by a jury. He's 84 years old, so if he appeals he will likely die before he has to serve any jail time. If he wins this election, we will have yet one more 90-year old senator. And judging by the performances of Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd, we need to set an upper age limit in Congress to prevent being ruled by a sclerotic gerontocracy like the Kremlin under Brezhnev.

[WilliePilgrim]

While not fan of Stevens and his shenanigans, niether am I a fan of automatically prohibiting a citizen from voting just because they've been convicted of a felony or federal offense. If I'm not mistaken, I think you might be equally liabel if you fail to pay at parking ticket in a National Park.
And more importantly civil disobedience might incurr the same penalty. Felons should be able to regain full status by a clear, recognized and achievable path to restoration that brings recompense to both the victims and society. 5 years of cleaning toilets at parks and roadside rests might do it for most. We could all appreciate that.

[gotborked]

Certain crimes evidence the criminal's willingness to breach the public trust. Through his actions, the criminal showed that he cannot be trusted with certain rights, privileges and responsibilities that come with citizenry. If a criminal has no problem with, say, defrauding a customer or steal an identity, how can we trust them not to defraud the voting system?

If a state wants to allow a criminal to regain his vote through some manner of rehabilitiation, great--but a state has every right to include the prohibition from voting as part of a criminal's punishment to begin with.

[metivo]

What about the possibility that Stevens voted early? Would his vote count?

[buzzy]

it has always bothered me that if a convict was denied the right to vote, then would he also be allowed to waive all laws that require him to pay his taxes. No taxation w/o representaion comes to mind.

[BillForObama]

Looks like this isn't working for the colonists. The middle class is being taxed, but we don't have representation (yet!).

[Amalek]

Move to DC and try to make that argument.

[LeonBNJ]

Don't forget too that the conviction may not be in affect while Stevens appeals it as the convictions could be overturned by an appeals court. If the appeals court (and up to the US Supreme Court if a Federal Law or if consititutional issue if a state law conviction) upholds the conviction, then it goes into full affect. Stevens may not have to serve a day in jail until he exausts his appeals.
It is highly probable that President Bush, just before he ends his term of office, will give a long list of persons in his administration (except for himself) and other Republicans like Stevens full Pardons to preempt any investigations by the US Justice Department and the Congress and of course any convictions.