Felony disenfranchisement plagues people suffering from mass incarceration in a number of ways. These include people imprisoned in 48 of 50 states and those released from prison in 18 states. People often forget that these are not the only way that people are disenfranchised by the effects of the corrections department. While incarcerated in jails across the country tens of thousands of pre-trial detainees who are eligible to vote are effectively disenfranchised because of their incarceration. Both pre-trail detainees and incarcerated citizens become inactive in politics as a result of their disenfranchisement. Knowing that civic engagement is a critical aspect of rehabilitation organizers at Chicago Votes in Illinois have worked hard as apart of the Right2Vote Campaign to educate and protect the rights of impacted citizens. Both bills, HB2541 and SB2090, are under Chicago Vote’s Unlock Civics Initiative, #UnlockCivics
Peer Led Civic Education in Prison
HB2541, the Reentering Citizens Civic Education Act, mandates that all reentering citizens go through a peer-taught civics course within the last year of their incarceration. This would close the gap in civic engagement and political awareness that develops among citizens during even short periods of incarceration, but especially for those that spend years in prison. The peer teaching component lowers the cost for implementing the program while allowing prisoners to participate in leadership roles within the program. Community members will also have the opportunity to be engaged in topics under voting rights/process, and government structure.
This bill was initiated from DePaul University’s inside out courses at Stateville Correctional Center, where DePaul students and incarcerated students share space taking a course together within the prison. The bill also drew inspiration from Dr. Christina Rivers Law and Politics Course. Understanding that quality education makes transformative change DePaul University insisted on providing this to inmates while providing opportunities for collaboration and dialogue between participants.
Its legislative sponsors were Senator Robert Peters and Representative Sonya Harper. After being introduced in the legislature the bill’s first reading was in February and moved relatively quickly through the House with dozens of representatives added as cosponsors throughout the month of March. The bill passed the floor with an overwhelming vote in favor of 102 v 9. By April the bill moved to the Senate where more co-sponsors were added before the bill was passed in May with a unanimous Senate Floor Vote of 58 v 0. In the end the bill passed with very little resistance.
Protecting Pretrial Detainees #Right2Vote
The second bill, SB2090- Voting in Jail, requires county jails and election authorities to collaborate in creating a process that ensures people who have not been convicted and are awaiting trial can cast their ballot during elections. The bill was sponsored by Representative Chris Welch and Senator Aquino and began with its first reading in the Senate in February. The bill sat in the Senate for a couple of months before passing with a Floor Vote of 37 v 17. In April the bill had its first reading in the house gaining cosponsors. By the end of May the bill passed the House with a floor vote of 69 to 45. SB2090 faced resistance at every step as it worked it’s way through the legislature. Chicago Votes combatted legislative resistance by organizing volunteer phone banks and twitter campaigns in order to ensure that the bill would be called for committee and voted on the floor.
It’s unfortunate to see that our representatives still struggle to see the connection between voter education and engagement. Legislators are much more comfortable with the idea of supporting prisoners in educating themselves about civics. They become suspiciously uncomfortable with the idea of allowing prisoners to put their civic education into practice by exercising their citizenship right to vote. We saw this exact same issue in Washington state where the voter education bill was passed but the sadly organizers were unsuccessful in mobilizing residents to push representatives to vote in favor of the voting bill. Its essential that citizens exercise their authority by voicing their support of the Right2Vote campaign to their local representatives. Without the valuable input of residents amazing bills can die before they have opportunity to make the transformative changes that we need to see in our communities. Both bills were sent to democrat Governor J. B. Pritzker at the end of June and are scheduled to be signed into law on Wednesday August 21, the significant anniversary of George Jackson’s assassination.
Illinois Makes National History
On March 17th, 2020 Cook County Jail will make history as the first polling place located in a jail. Out of 102 counties throughout the state, only 8 could show that they facilitate elections for people in pre-trial detention. Its obvious that legislation was required in order to protect the rights of pre-trial detainees. Organizers main goal is an end to felony disenfranchisement in the state of Illinois. Illinois is a state were citizens voting rights are restored automatically upon their release from prison. The next step for organizers is to re-enfranchise incarcerated citizens. For those that have questions about either of the bills or the status of felony disenfranchisement in Illinois please participate in the Democracy Needs Everyone Dialogues on Wednesday August 14, 2:00 – 3:00p CT using #NewSuffrageMvmt. We’re not finished yet, there are many more jails to provide with polling equipment and many more voices to amplify but this historic milestone deserves celebration. For local supporters, Chicago Votes will be hosting an Unlock Civics cookout on Saturday August 24th at La Villita Park Canopy from 4:00-7:00p in celebration of the passing of these two historic bills.
