Restore voting rights in fair, open process

Helping people register to vote as a volunteer for the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, I was confronted with a real-life example of the harm the policies of Gov. Terry Branstad and Secretary of State Matt Schultz have done to the right to vote in our state.

As I sat at the registration table, an individual came up to me and said: I am registered to vote but I am afraid if I vote I will be arrested. I could not reassure this person as I was confused as many are about the status of ex-felons and voting rights. (See the Iowa City Press-Citizen's April 17 editorial ' One more layer of confusion over who can't vote”).

I commend the Press-Citizen for its articles and editorials about voting in this state.

The right to vote is the basis of a democracy. While I doubt anyone is advocating that people who are not eligible to vote should be allowed to vote, the process of verifying who is eligible should not be done in haste but in an open, careful and a correct procedural manner. It is time to replace Branstad's failed, secretive policy of restoring ex-felons voting rights on a case-by-case basis and instead offer a simple, fair and open application process to those who have served their sentences.

Rebecca Reiter

Iowa City