This election touches everybody, from people of color, to young people as well as people who were formerly incarcerated,” said 2 Chainz. “The elected officials we are voting for make decisions on stuff we’ve been seeing play out in our communities every day, like police brutality. Now is the time to make our voices heard loud and clear.”
On Wednesday, August 5 Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed an executive order restoring the right to vote to those who have been convicted of a felony, allowing 40,000 former inmates to register and head to the polls. Reynolds’ order will not automatically restore voting rights to felons convicted of certain crimes. Felons with convictions including first- and second-degree murder, attempted murder, fetal homicide and some sex offenses would still need to petition the governor for the restoration of their voting rights. Full financial restitution to their victims will not be required of felons before having voter rights restored. Such a requirement was opposed by Black Lives Matter, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.
