Civic Participation and Rehabilitation Act of 2005

The Civic Participation and Rehabilitation Act of 2005 (H.R. 1300) sought to establish a uniform federal standard for restoring voting rights to individuals with past criminal convictions. Under this bill, any U.S. citizen would have the right to vote in federal elections regardless of their criminal record, provided they were not actively serving a felony sentence in a correctional facility at the time of the election.

The legislation would have prohibited states from denying the right to vote to individuals on parole, probation, or those who had completed their sentences. Additionally, the bill required correctional facilities to notify incarcerated citizens of their restored voting rights upon release as a condition for receiving federal funding for prison construction or improvements. While the bill was introduced in the 109th Congress, it did not advance past the committee stage and did not become law.