While voting from behind bars is legal for many, few incarcerated people exercise their right. Rules vary by state and there are misconceptions about who is allowed to perform their civic duty.
Read the full transcript below:
Annie Bennett: This is Northeast Notebook. I'm Annie Bennett.
Clyanna Lightbourn: There was not a uniform way to access the ballot if you were behind bars.
Annie Bennett: There's a common misconception that people in jail can't vote in U.S. elections. But that's not entirely true.
Jamel Mohammed: If you don't like the way things are running, it's important that you participate in the process of changing.
Annie Bennett: On today's show, we'll examine what the democratic process looks like from behind bars.
James Gayne: They come in for a misdemeanor or a violation- they can vote. And if they're here- arrested and charged with a felony, but have not been sentenced, they can still vote.
Annie Bennett: Lieutenant James Gayne from the Jefferson County Jail spoke to WWNYTV back in 2024.
James Gayne: I mean, it's their constitutional right to vote. And every citizen should get out and vote.
Annie Bennett: In New York, out of 57 counties examined, only 11 had full programs that help jail populations cast ballots. That's according to a survey by Albany Law School. Like New York, and most states, Massachusetts restricts people serving time for a felony from voting. But, for people awaiting trial or even serving time for a misdemeanor, their right to vote is protected, as you just heard from the Lieutenant. Earlier this year, after pressure from civil rights groups, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin finally released data about the state of jail voting. The Boston Globe reported from that data that there were 5,600 eligible incarcerated voters in a preliminary election in September 2024. Out of that 5,600, only 58 inmates submitted ballots that were counted. The League of Women Voters of New York has researched voter turnout among incarcerated people. Here's Clyanna Lightbourn, their campaign director.
Clyanna Lightbourn: So, we're finding that people are being arrested, and now, not only is that a resource taken from their community - a father, a worker - but it's also one less voice in that community that speaks to rent protections, or what roads are going to get paved, or who is going to be the representative for this area. So, we were finding that we're not really getting to hear the voice of the people because we have some folks who are behind bars that can't if they tried.
Annie to Clyanna: Hmm. Okay. So tell me about that 'can't if they tried.' Are people trying and being denied, or is it more of a lack of awareness that's the issue?
Clyanna Lightbourn: I think it's a combination. I think it's not only a lack of awareness for the people who are behind bars, but also the people who are working in the jails, the corrections officers and the like. And it's not their responsibility to be elections experts. It's not on them. The Board of Elections should be going into these spaces and working with the jails, working with corrections officers and sheriffs to make sure that they have access. We have heard tales that folks have requested ballots or requested a registration application and not received one or received one, filled it out, and then sent it away and then kind of never heard anything again. And part of that is that, you know, it's a revolving door, sure. There are people that are maybe in for a week, maybe in for a month or so. But we do have folks that are in there for longer who want to practice this right.
Annie Bennett: So, most states do not allow felons to vote during their time in prison. Vermont and Maine, however, are the exception. They're the only two states that have no voting restrictions on felons. Unless you've actually been convicted of voter fraud, you're eligible. In 2022, Vermont Public interviewed Jason Trombley, who had been recently released from the Northern State Correctional Facility.
Jason Trombley: It was kind of a pain, the way they do it. They just had our caseworker give us an absentee ballot, and we had to fill it out and mail it. Everything's up to you to like, they... You even have to buy your own envelope to mail it out half the time. It's crazy.
Annie Bennett: He says that making the process easier could help voter turnout.
Jason Trombley: If they could have it set up so you could just go to your caseworker's office and do it online or something, I mean, that'd be the easiest way.
Annie Bennett: The lack of standardization contributes to low turnout. Back in New York, one way they're hoping to solve that is The Democracy During Detention Act. It has been introduced in the State Legislature and would provide more specific guidance for jail administrations. Here's Clyanna again, from the League of Women Voters.
Clyanna Lightbourn: There was not a uniform way to access the ballot if you were behind bars. It can look different in different jails.
Annie Bennett: Yeah.
Clyanna Lightbourn: Um, and that's kind of the issue. I don't say this assuming that it is intentional at all. There's so much happening. If you go to a jail on any given day, there's so much to manage. So it really is oversight and just not having this practice to move through.
Annie Bennett: Jamel Mohammed is the president CEO of Youth Life Support network, a non-profit based in the Capital Region. The Schenectady County Jail contracts him to be their Inmate Services Director.
Jamel Mohammed: Being a formerly incarcerated individual, serving 17 and a half years on a 20-year prison sentence, I was tired and frustrated. I was just determined that once I was released, if God allowed me to step back outside of those prison walls, that I would be an asset to the community, not a liability, and work in the efforts and interests of public safety.
Annie Bennett: In his role at the Schenectady County Jail, Jamel works to make sure that those behind bars still know their rights. He says now, as inmates have access to computer tablets, it's easier to share voting information with the jail population.
Jamel Mohammed: The Board of Education provided us with a kind of a flyer. The captain had it posted on the tablet so that every individual in Schenectady County Jail is made aware that, one: there's an election coming up, and two: that you do have the right to participate if you're eligible.
Annie Bennett: The level of access to information and support from higher-ups now provided to inmates is nothing like Jamel says he experienced while he was incarcerated. He says that he was lucky and learned about his rights from his peers.
Jamel Mohammed: The way that my time was served, the system was much different than what I hear and understand it to be now, where, uh, most of the population that surrounded me were very politically and socially conscious and active.
Annie to Jamel: Were you educated by the staff at all or by programs, or was it just from, uh, the people you were incarcerated with, your peers?
Jamel Mohammed: No, this was strictly the peers at the, uh, at the prison. In fact, in Green Haven, we had an inmate organization, collaboration organization, that was very active and very alive with educating each other and then educating the population as a whole. A big part of it was communication because it was not being communicated for the most part to the population. It was, I guess, expected that either, A - they knew what their rights were and left it at that, or just, you know, not a concern at all.
Annie Bennett: Okay, so remember that attempt to standardize practices for jail voting, The Democracy During Detention Act? Well, the League of Women Voters is a big supporter.
Clyanna Lightbourn: DDDA would make that actual Venn diagram of creating a voting in jails program that is authored by the experts in voting, which would be the Board of Elections, and then would work with the sheriffs' departments to make sure that there is a way for individuals who are behind bars to access the ballot.
Annie Bennett: Despite support from politicians, the bill is stuck in committee. Advocacy groups like Jamel's are trying to fill in the gaps.
Jamel Mohammed: So just to make sure that they understand, if you don't like the way things are running, it's important that you participate in the process of changing.
Annie Bennett: Clyanna says that that belief in the power to change things is a crucial resource for anyone looking to increase voter turnout.
Clyanna Lightbourn: So imagine someone who's behind bars, who has always been disenfranchised from the system, has never really experienced the system in any other way - other than a way of punishment.
Annie Bennett: President Trump has made headlines for trying to limit mail-in voting, which incarcerated people depend on. And with midterms right around the corner, ballot access is at the forefront of the conversation.
Clyanna Lightbourn: Even if we get one extra person voting by election day, it means so much. You know, that person is speaking for an entire community, an entire family, entire representative culture. It's just so important. We are absolutely leaving, I mean, thousands of people in the dark and without a voice in a time where I think every eligible citizen should have a megaphone and a microphone.
Annie Bennett: Northeast Notebook is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Our Executive Producer is Lucas Willard. Our Editor is Diane Devore. Original music by Eduardo Rivera. Please consider subscribing to Northeast Notebook wherever you get your podcasts. And, hey, if you have the time, a rate and a review really help us out. I'm Annie Bennett; I produced and hosted this episode. Thank you for listening.
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