Will prosecutors pursue a new trial against a Black woman jailed for a voting error? | The fight to vote

On Monday, Pamela Moses is set to make her first court appearance since having her six-year prison sentence for trying to register to vote overturned

Hello, and happy Thursday,

On Monday morning, I'll be in Memphis, where Pamela Moses is set to make her first court appearance since having her six-year prison sentence for trying to register to vote overturned. Moses, a 44-year-old Black Lives Matter activist, will probably find out whether prosecutors intend to pursue a new trial against her.

Moses lost her voting rights in 2015, when she was convicted of a felony and sentenced to seven years of probation. But no one told her she was ineligible to vote and election officials never removed her from the rolls. She continued to vote regularly.

In 2019, Moses attempted to go through the process for people with felonies to register to vote. Election officials became aware of her ineligibility because she was running for mayor.

Even though a probation officer signed a form saying she was eligible, and Moses says she didn't know she couldn't vote, a jury convicted her of knowingly consenting to false information on an election document in November 2021

She was sentenced to six years in prison in January this year.

In February, the Guardian published a document showing that the Tennessee department of corrections had investigated the matter and blamed the probation officer. That document had not been provided to Moses before her trial and the judge overseeing her case granted her request for a new one.

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