T.I. VOTES FOR THE FIRST TIME DESPITE CONVICTED FELON STATUS RESPECT MY VOTE CAMPAIGN VIDEO

The Hip Hop Caucus launched the Respect My Vote Campaign to register over half a million young voters.

You may have seen the pictures of T.I. proudly displaying a sticker on his thumb Tuesday as proof that he cast an early ballot in this year’s presidential election.

According to a press release from his spokespeople, it was the first time the 28-year-old rapper (born Clifford Harris) had ever voted. Tip is the national spokesperson for the nonpartisan group Respect My Vote’s “Get Out the Vote” campaign.

“T.I. has been a very vocal and engaged activist in helping to get young people to register and, now, to get them to the polls to vote,” read a release from T.I.’s camp. “With his prior difficulties with the law, T.I. made it his point to emphasize that, while he thought he was ineligible to vote, others needed to get out to the polls to make a difference in their lives and their communities. Recently, he did further research on his own and discovered he was, in fact, still eligible to vote. Going to the polls early this morning in Atlanta, Georgia, was a transformative experience for him.” source

The grass roots Respect My Vote! bus tour kicked off in Atlanta in October and featured artists Keyshia Cole and T.I. as the faces of the campaign. T.I. believed he would be unable to vote due to his convicted felon status. T.I. learned that he was eligible to vote after further research. Watch T.I. cast his vote for the first time in a Presidential election.

*T.I. thought his voting privileges were revoked because he's a convicted felon, but under Georgia Law, felons are still eligible if they're not currently serving probation or a prison sentence.

"Until he is sentenced in the federal case, he doesn't have a conviction yet," said lawyer, Steve Sadow of his 28-year-old client, whose real name is Clifford Harris. "Even though he is a convicted felon, he has a right to vote since he is not serving probation and hasn't started his prison sentence."   Because his jail term doesn't begin until late March, the rapper immediately got himself to an early polling station in Atlanta yesterday to cast his ballot for the next President of the United States. source