A bipartisan group of state senators has begun reviewing Georgia's rules about voting by convicted felons, with a target of deciding on possible changes in times for next year's legislative session.
The panel was convened last month by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, with a deadline to make recommendations by year's end.
Currently, Georgia felons may not resume voting unless they have paid off all fines, and until their probation or parole is done. This is the situation in most states, but a move has been underway to loosen the restrictions – especially the one about paying off fines, an economic burden that can keep felons disenfranchised for years after they reenter society.
"There are good people – not necessarily innocent people – in our jails and prisons that plan on doing good things when they get out," GOP state Sen. Randy Robertson, the chairman of the study committee and a former sheriff's deputy, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "I'm looking forward to hearing about what a nonviolent felon is and listen to the groups impacted by the issue."
Convictions prevented about 250,000 Georgians from voting in the last presidential election, four out of five of them because they were still on probation or parole, according to the Sentencing Project, an advocacy group that studies racial disparities in sentencing.
Democratic state Sen. Harold Jones, another member of the panel, predicted the likeliest outcome would be reinstating voting rights more quickly – perhaps as soon as after release from prison – for nonviolent felons who have been convicted of crimes such as drug possession and shoplifting.
Georgia is among 22 states where felons lose the franchise for some time after their release from prison, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Felons lose their voting rights only while incarcerated in 14 states.
Protest signs and resource information posters were hung up around a resource tent in Broadview, Illinois. Credit: Britton Struthers-Lugo, Oct. 30, 2025.
Rubber bullet wounds on Bryan’s back, after a day of protesting at the Broadview ICE facility in mid-September. He wears hospital scrubs, acquired after receiving medical attention following the pepper-spray incident earlier in the day. He returned to protest after being discharged from the hospital.Credit: Adriano Kalin (@adriano_kalin).
ICE officers gathered outside the Broadview detention center. Yellow identifying badges can be seen on the front of their uniforms and on their shoulders. Credit: Britton Struthers-Lugo, Oct. 30, 2025.
Screengrab from the Chicago Council of Lawyers. Designed by 
A white bus waits outside the Broadview Detention Center to transport detainees to a permanent detention center or to an airport. The Broadview Detention Center cannot hold detainees for longer than 12 hours, though to reflect increased enforcement operations this has been increased to 72 hours. Longer stays have been recorded since Operation Midway Blitz. Credit: By Britton Struthers-Lugo, Oct. 30, 2025.
A paper outlining resources and ways to report federal law enforcement activity around Chicago hangs on a gate in the protestor “free speech zone”.Credit: Britton Struthers-Lugo. Oct. 30, 2025.
