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Results for voter registration

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Author: American Civil Liberties Union

Title: VWI: Voting While Incarcerated: A Tool Kit for Advocates Seeking to Register, and Facilitate Voting by, Eligible People in Jail

Summary: At midyear 2004, there were close to 714,000 people detained in our nation's jails. Most were being held under pretrial detention or serving time for misdemeanors or for non-disfranchising felonies, and the majority were eligible to register and vote. Most states disfranchise people with felony convictions for at least some period of time - while they are serving their sentence in prison (in all states except Maine and Vermont), and often while they are on probation or parole as well. Several states indefinitely disfranchise people with felony convictions, but Alabama and Mississippi permit some felons to vote. (See "The Law in Your State," page 34.) However, people detained in jail who are awaiting trial or are serving time for a misdemeanor or a non-disfranchising felony have the right to vote in every state. This is at least theoretically true. And this is where advocacy efforts come in. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than half the people in jail in 2004 were racial or ethnic minorities. African Americans were five times more likely than whites and almost three times more likely than Latinos to be in jail. The United States has a long history of deliberately denying people of color the right to participate in the democratic process by voting. Even after the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870 guaranteeing all (male) citizens the right to vote regardless of race or nationality, many states continued to create obstacles such as literacy tests and poll taxes to deter African Americans and other people of color from voting. Although the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made these practices illegal, most states employ felony disfranchisement laws that effectively silence large numbers of voters of color, especially African-American men, according to The Sentencing Project. These figures are estimates as of August 2005: But there is a hidden population of over 700,000 people in our jails who are disproportionately poor and of color who are eligible to vote now. Pretrial detainees in jail are usually there only because they cannot afford bail. People with financial resources are able to post bail and are therefore able to vote freely outside the jailhouse walls that contain the poor. Another reason to focus on jail systems is that while state elected officials determine who is and isn't eligible to vote in each state, with the authority to enact or repeal felony disfranchisement laws, local officials (often county executives or mayors and their appointed administrators) control jail systems. Local elected officials have influence over local election boards. Where state officials refuse to take action, local corrections and elections officials may be interested in ensuring that all eligible residents in their jurisdiction, including people in jail, are registered and provided the opportunity to cast a ballot. The San Francisco Department of Elections, for example, is taking steps to inform people in jail (and those who have completed their sentences) that they are eligible to vote under California law. The director has implemented the plan as a way to increase voter registration while honoring inmates' right to vote. The department's informational campaign includes a useful Web page on "Inmate Voting": see http://www.sfgov.org/site/election_ index.asp?id=33704. Local elected officials may also control other corrections agencies, including probation offices. Many of the recommendations in this tool kit with respect to the institutionalization of jail-based voter education and registration also apply to probation and other corrections agencies. HOW THIS TOOL KIT CAN HELP This tool kit outlines the steps you can take to implement a two-part process inside your local jails to (1) register voters, and (2) ensure that eligible people can vote from jail. The act of registration is important in and of itself, but there must be follow-up to ensure that people also have the opportunity to exercise the right to vote. There are many ways to approach this work, and the method you choose should be based on the unique set of circumstances that prevail in your community. We have included models with step-by-step instructions and sample materials you can use to create educational flyers and other relevant items. To give these models some context, we offer profiles of jail-based voter registration and get-out-the- vote efforts in seven localities across the country.

Details: New York: ACLU and Right to Vote, 2005. 72p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/votingrights/votingwhileincarc_20051123.pdf

Year: 2005

Country: United States

URL: https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/votingrights/votingwhileincarc_20051123.pdf

Shelf Number: 136998

Keywords:
Jail Inmates
Prisoners Rights
Voter Registration