Restore Right2Vote

Inside U.S prisons, there has been a wave of awareness building amongst those confined who understand that they must gain political power by capturing their right to vote in order to end the dehumanization process in the U.S jails, prisons, and even after release. With no political input, prisoners are easily exploited as cheap labor and commodities. A lack of political power directly influences sentencing, living conditions, and the expansion of the Prison Industrial Slave Complex. There is no secret as to why our country today has the world’s largest prison population. Along with this disheartening reality, for those that were formerly imprisoned, they find themselves functioning in society as second class citizens due to felony disenfranchisement. To meet this 10th demand a collaborative effort of lead organizations and outside allies have established a cohort with the ongoing mission to bridge the gap between incarcerated people and their elected officials.

The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees, and so-called “ex-felons” must be counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count!

-Jailhouse Lawyers’ Speak, 2018 National Prison Strike

In our eyes, the U.S has created a distinct class, i.e prison class. A class of people that are denied the basic fundamental right in a democracy, the right to vote. Many currently and formerly confined people pay taxes but are barred from voting. We the prison class, demand an end to taxation without representation.

The Right 2 Vote campaign is historic in its efforts to build a National Movement led from the inside, in collaboration with those formerly in the same shoes with the support of activists and allies to make every vote count. It is this campaign’s focus to develop political capital by organizing families, friends, and organizations that are allies to those currently/formerly inside without the right to vote. With political credibility we can have a degree of say in changing laws for a larger portion of those who are disenfranchised, cause reductions in the U.S prison population, improve prison conditions, force sentencing reforms, and force the closing of prisons and jails. By re-enfranchising all those who have fallen short according to society terms, we end the mockery of a country claiming to be the beacon for democracy, while taxing a class of people that are denied the right to vote.

Right2Vote Campaign Coordinator, Amani Sawari, is a recipient of the 2019 Roddenberry Foundation Civil Right’s Fellowship

Right2Vote Cohort