In New Jersey organizers are advocating for full enfranchisement through the traditional legislative process. New Jersey has been working on this effort for nearly two years. Senate Bill 2100 was introduced March 5, 2018 by Senator Ronald Rice. It currently has several cosponsors including Sen. Cunningham, Sen. Cruz-Perez and Sen. Diegnan. The bill would reenfranchise more than 94,300 people in New Jersey who are on probation, parole, or behind bars. The bill’s last hearing was a discussion only hearing with no vote from the committee members. However, the hearing did give advocates to voice their perspectives to committee members. Many came in support and there was no vocal opposition to the bill passing. The bill has been traveling quietly through the legislature.
Now while in the mist of a budget year, organizers like those from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, have had to overcome many obstacles. Gladly, they’ve still been able to meet with several senators in order to secure votes in favor of passing the legislation. Legislators being more focused on the budget have made passing other types of legislation, like the Right2Vote bills, less of a priority. Organizers needed to have a hearing with a vote in order to get concrete answers from representatives to work with. Without any voting happening during the hearing in order to see where legislators stand, it’s been difficult for organizers to develop their strategy. Regardless, they used the opportunities that they were granted with the discussion hearing. Organizers did get the chance to give testimonies in order to shape a positive narrative around why prisoners should be re-enfranchised.
Closing the Wealth Gap by Restoring Voting Rights
In New Jersey the racial wealth Gap is grossly evident. The median income for white families is more than fifteen times, 15.8x, the median income of Black families. New Jersey has the most outrageous racial wealth gap in the county. Throughout history in areas like New Jersey, legislation was passed in order to restrict blacks ability achieve economic stability. Those laws continue to play a role in our economy, that lack of economic growth continued for decades and it is directly connected to the stripping of one’s citizenship rights. Voting is an inherent right of citizenship in a democracy.
In 1844 disenfranchisement was tied to one’s conviction status. Now since people in prison and on probation and parole have not had the right to vote, this further stunts the political power of marginalized communities. Observing how communities of color are thwarted economically and politically it’s difficult to believe after identifying these issues, that any legislator would be indifferent about the restoration of citizens voting rights. It’s important that every citizen’s voice be counted regardless of their incarceration status.
Incarceration Should Motivate Restoration
Incarceration should be an even greater motivation for one to have the right to vote. While incarcerated citizens do not have the same privileges to participate civically, being mailed a ballot is a cost effective way that someone can participate in the civic processes that govern their lives. Without that right, prisoners are completely bared from those process, they’re denied the ability to attend to legislative hearing or set up a meeting with a local representative. While this may be considered a worthy aspect of one’s punishment, these avenues must be replaced by some other line of communication with legislators. Because of these restrictions it’s extremely important that we include prisoners in elections locally and federally. They need to be civically engaged as a part of their rehabilitation process. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and its partners realized this years ago.
Now the new narrative as the new suffrage movement has expanded has made voting an inclusive right to citizenship that should be shared by everyone. Now many people are able to compromise on the fact that parolees in those on probation should have voting rights as more active participants in society. This is a conversation in on the East Coast, which includes two states in our cohort New Jersey and Massachusetts that are advocating for prisoners to have their voting rights. In both of these states prisoners don’t have the right to vote, but citizens on the outside are split as to when that right should be restored. People are divided as to whether voting rights should be restored immediately upon one’s release from prison, as they are Massachusetts, or if they should be delayed until after one’s completion of post-sentencing programs like probation or parole, which is currently the case in New Jersey. The choice is difficult for some to decide on, but as abolitionists we believe that the right to vote within a democracy should not be tied to one’s incarceration status at all. This is only a recent development, an evolved aspect of Jim Crow laws that should be abolished immediately, Voting should be a guaranteed by one’s citizenship status regardless of their conviction status or where they reside.
For any state to say that they have no interest in the concerns of their incarcerated population is entirely hypocritical. A prison sentence is seen as one being displaced from their environment in order to focus on their personal development, but without any avenue for civic engagement one’s ability to develop is dangerously restricted. Without the right to vote, or even to introduce legislation, prisoners are left with no way of addressing their concerns as a unified class and are left vulnerable to exploitation. As of now prisoners are exploited economically, for their labor, medically and even sexually at the whim of prison officials who are not held accountable to anyone. With this lack of accountability to prisoners conditions we’ve seen the prison system degrade in every way. Prisoners want the right to vote because they need it in order to operate productively as citizens in this country. Having voting rights would protect them as a class and make them feel connected to the whole of our society through their civic engagement which is a more secure and positive path through rehabilitation that would also result in a reduction in crime and incarceration rates in the long term, support SB 2100 #1844NoMore
