AN ACT TO RESTORE THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE TO APRIL PACE-BROOKS OF COAHOMA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI.
Summary
HB 4119 is a private suffrage bill that restores the right to vote to April Pace-Brooks of Coahoma County, Mississippi. The bill states that she lost her voting rights because of a 2003 embezzlement conviction in Tunica County, for which she received a 60-month probation sentence under the supervision of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and was discharged from probation in 2008.
The measure declares that Pace-Brooks has since lived as a law-abiding and honorable citizen and therefore should have her suffrage fully and completely restored. If enacted, the bill would immediately reinstate her status as an elector and remove the voting disability tied to her felony conviction.
Impact
HB 4119 would affect Mississippi election law only as applied to one named individual, restoring her constitutional and statutory right to vote despite a prior disqualifying felony conviction. It does not amend the general rules governing felony disenfranchisement; instead, it operates as a special act of suffrage restoration effective upon passage.
Sentiment
The available record suggests a favorable and uncontroversial posture toward the bill. It passed the House, and there are no recorded committee transcripts or vote details indicating opposition or debate. The bill’s language itself reflects a rehabilitative rationale, emphasizing that the individual has been law-abiding since completing probation.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. In general, private suffrage bills can raise questions about whether voting rights should be restored through individualized legislative action versus a broader automatic restoration process, but no such dispute is reflected here. The bill appears to have been treated as a straightforward restoration for a single constituent.