KEOKUK (AP) — The trial of an ex-felon charged with illegally voting is expected to showcase Iowa’s unusually harsh policies toward voting rights for former offenders.
Jury selection is scheduled Thursday at the perjury trial of 40-year-old Kelli Jo Griffin.
Prosecutors say Griffin falsely claimed on a voter registration form last year that she was not an ineligible felon before voting in a municipal election in Montrose. Prosecutors say she’d been disenfranchised by a 2008 felony drug conviction, and Gov. Terry Branstad hadn’t restored her rights.
Iowa is one of four states in which former offenders must apply to the governor to regain their voting rights. A two-year criminal investigation into election misconduct has resulted in several ex-Iowa felons being charged, but Griffin would be the first to have a trial.