By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer

Ohio parole officials agreed Monday to provide written notice to former prisoners about their voting rights.

The move came three weeks after an advocacy group for prisoners filed a federal lawsuit accusing state and county elections officials of depriving felons of their right to vote.

The suit, which the group voluntarily dismissed Monday, had claimed elections officials routinely tell felons they must complete parole or fill out unnecessary paperwork before registering to vote in Ohio.

Under Ohio law, felons are allowed to vote as long as they are no longer in prison.

"We think it's important that all citizens be allowed to participate in the political process," said David Singleton, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Prison Reform Advocacy Center.

He said the agreement with state officials means that thousands of felons will now receive written notice of their voting rights from their parole officers, who will give the notice during regularly scheduled meetings.

Singleton said quick action was needed because Oct. 4 is the deadline for registering to vote before the Nov. 2 election.

Before filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Singleton's group had found that all 88 Ohio counties often gave bad advice when felons called to ask about registering to vote.

Singleton said testers working on behalf of his group learned that elections officials inaccurately stated that felons must register in person, must wait until they complete parole or must fill out special forms to restore their voting rights.

He estimated that as many as 21,000 felons in Ohio had been deprived of their right to vote each year because of the errors.

Prison officials said Monday they could not comment on the lawsuit because they were not named as defendants. But they did say ex-convicts would receive notification of their voting rights.

"We're delighted with the result," Singleton said. "This will undo a lot of the damage that's been done."