Cross-posted from Blue Mass. Group.
HT to afertig at my home blog of Blue Mass. Group for flagging this most amusing upshot of Ted Stevens' conviction under the federal false statement statute:
Alaska disqualifies felons from voting. Therefore, it appears that Senator Stevens can vote neither for himself, nor for local celeb Sarah Palin's vice-presidential bid.
All together now: awwwwww. Details on the flip.
From the law review article linked above:
The state constitution provides that "[n]o person may vote who has been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude unless his civil rights have been restored." The provision was adopted at Alaska's constitutional convention in 1956 and became law upon Alaska's admission to the union in 1959.... The contours of the constitutional provision are set by statute. The term "felony involving moral turpitude" is defined to include nearly all felonies. Voting registration is automatically cancelled upon conviction. Voting rights are restored, and felons may re-register to vote upon completion of their sentences including any terms of parole or probation.
The list of felonies that involve "moral turpitude" is quite long, and includes false-statement crimes like perjury, "falsifying business records," and other false-statement-ish crimes.
ALASKA STAT. s. 15.60.010(8) (2006). At present, crimes meriting disenfranchisement ("felon[ies] involving moral turpitude") include:
those crimes that are immoral or wrong in themselves such as murder, manslaughter, assault, sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful exploitation of a minor, robbery, extortion, coercion, kidnapping, incest, arson, burglary, theft, forgery, criminal possession of a forgery device, offering a false instrument for recording, scheme to defraud, falsifying business records, commercial bribe receiving, commercial bribery, bribery, receiving a bribe, perjury, perjury by inconsistent statements, endangering the welfare of a minor, escape, promoting contraband, interference with official proceedings, receiving a bribe by a witness or a juror, jury tampering, misconduct by a juror, tampering with physical evidence, hindering prosecution, terroristic threatening, riot, criminal possession of explosives, unlawful furnishing of explosives, promoting prostitution, criminal mischief, misconduct involving a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance, permitting an escape, promoting gambling, possession of gambling records, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography . . . .