The Sentencing Project releases new report on “Voting From Prison: Lessons From Maine and Vermont”

The folks at The Sentencing Project released this new 36-page report about two states’ experiences with in-prison voting.  Here are excerpts from the report’s executive symmary:

Only two U.S. states – Maine and Vermont – do not disrupt the voting rights of their citizens who are completing a felony-level prison sentence. Incarcerated Mainers and Vermonters retain their right to cast absentee ballots in elections.  Because of the states’ unique place in the voting rights landscape,  The Sentencing Project examined how their Departments of Corrections facilitate voting. We sought to determine experiences and lessons to share nationally as momentum builds in states, such as Illinois, Maryland, and Oregon, to expand voting rights to people completing a felony-level sentence in prison or jail….

Our findings are based on 21 interviews with staff from the Maine and Vermont Departments of Corrections and other stakeholders who collaborated with these agencies in voting rights work, as well as our survey of incarcerated Mainers and Vermonters in which 132 incarcerated people participated. This investigation revealed:

●  Nearly three quarters (73%) of incarcerated survey respondents said that voting during incarceration is important to them.

●  Almost half (49%) of incarcerated respondents said that they did not know how to vote at their facility….

The Sentencing Project recommends providing more equitable access to voting and democracy during imprisonment….  Every eligible American citizen should be able to cast a ballot in elections regardless of conviction or incarceration status.  In the words of one incarcerated resident in Maine, “I believe strongly [that] voting is a fundamental right for every American citizen. Being incarcerated does not mean you forfeit that right so I voted in here and will most definitely vote out of here.” 

Given notable survey data regarding dynamics politica leanings of the incarcerated (see here and here), I do not think it impossible to imagine some bipartisan bipartisan efforts to help more persons behind bars to vote.  But I doubt this will be a priority voting concern for either party anytime soon.