Giving Compass' Take:
- Lyle C. May sheds light on how justice-involved Americans, particularly people on death row, are systematically denied voting rights.
- What actions can donors, funders, and nonprofits take to improve justice-involved people's access to voting?
- Learn more about strengthening democracy and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on democracy in your area.
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As election day approaches, there is increased reporting about Republican-led initiatives to prevent justice-involved Americans from voting. These efforts extend beyond the longstanding disenfranchisement of incarcerated people, with many states now barring those on probation or parole from participating in the electoral process.
The violation of this fundamental right to participate in democracy is not new to us. The disenfranchisement of incarcerated people is directly linked to the exception for slavery enshrined in the Constitution.
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” the Thirteenth Amendment states.
The enslaved were never allowed to vote. Even the formerly enslaved were barred from voting until the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. Women were likewise disenfranchised until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. However, disenfranchisement has always been normalized by the carceral state.
Suppressing the Voting Rights of Justice-Involved Americans
More than a century later, in 2024, Republican lawmakers are now attempting to aggressively purge hundreds of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls because they were recently released from prison. Where I am incarcerated in North Carolina, the conservative state Supreme Court ruled last year that it’s lawful to delay the restoration of voting rights until a formerly incarcerated person completes their probation, parole, or post-release supervision.
These recent efforts targeting the voting rights of justice-involved people are designed to suppress potential Democratic voters in Republican-leaning states. Why? In theory, the disproportionate number of Black and brown people in prison are more likely to vote Democrat and support policies that address justice reform, community policing, and mass incarceration.
While it may be true that formerly incarcerated people are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates, as a class, we are not a monolith—especially as it relates to our political beliefs. Just like the rest of society, we share a broad range of political ideologies—including those that are self-defeating.
Read the full article about justice-involved Americans being denied voting rights by Lyle C. May at Prism Reports.