A slew of states have made progress towards ending felony disenfranchisement implementing universal suffrage for all adult citizens residing in their state. The following have bills proposed with exciting congressional updates. In some states an amendment to the constitution is required in order to reverse the injustice of felony disenfranchisment. For example, in New York, a constitutional amendment to restore the voting rights of people in prison has been initiated by legislative bill #S316/A412, This legislation reenfranchises 35,000 people in prison in the state of New York.
In Illinois, organizers have continued to collect testimonial statements from citizens incarcerated in the state advocating for the positive impact that a restoration of their voting rights would have on their lives. In an effort to continue to do this, ChicagoVotes opted to reintroduce the Voting in Prison bill, formerly SB 828, now HB989. The passage of this bill would reenfranchise 29,000 citizens incarcerated in Illinois.
In New Mexico, HB4 has been introduced in order to restore citizens voting rights immediately upon release. While formerly incarcerated citizen’s voting rights are restricted while on parole, organizers prioritize the disenfranchisment of this population. Previously, New Mexico organizers attempted to bundle the call for voting rights to include all 17,500 impacted citizens with HB 57 in 2019, unfortunately that bill was whittled down in the House before failing to pass at the close of that year’s legislative session. Today’s HB4 would reenfranchise at least 8,500 people formerly incarcerated in New Mexico. This practice of restricted voting rights has become known as felony parole disenfranchisement.
Fortunately in Connecticut organizers have been able to progress HB 5702 with 18 sponsors reenfracnhising at least 6,800 people in prison in Connecticut. In California, organizers are surveying people in both ends of the spectrum in preparation for a new constitutional amendment that would restore voting rights to adult citizens incarcerated in California’s prisons based upon their last known residence, potentially impacting a total of 97,300 people in prison.
Each of these state campaigns illustrate an ever changing tide towards maintaining and expanding the rights of people incarcerated across the U.S. looking toward reenfranchising at least 176,600 citizens across the country.
