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This Second Chance Month state advocates and researchers from North Carolina to Colorado worked to guarantee voting rights for persons completing their sentence inside and outside of prison and jail and for persons post-sentence. Nationally, more than 4.4 million persons [[link removed]] are disenfranchised from voting due to a felony conviction.
Expanding the Vote in Nebraska
In early April, state lawmakers approved LB 20 [[link removed]] [[link removed]] [[link removed]] which ends the two-year waiting period for more than 7,000 Nebraskans who could not vote directly after the completion of their sentence. The measure, championed for years by Omaha state Sen. Justin Wayne, passed by a wide margin in the last year of Wayne’s final term. The Sentencing Project joined Nebraska lawmakers and advocates more than seven years ago to call attention to over 17,000 residents disenfranchised from voting due to a felony conviction including those completing their sentence in prison and jail, community supervision, and persons post-sentence. LB 20 goes into effect in July.
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Photography by Chad Greene
As a national partner to Nebraska’s Voting Rights Restoration Coalition, The Sentencing Project organized a national sign-on letter, participated in weekly strategy calls, and worked with local partners to expand the vote. We are working to nationalize the win in Nebraska to continue the momentum by convening regular calls with state and local partners to strategize on ways to advance rights restoration. On those calls, Nebraska advocacy organizers shared tactics and strategies on getting LB 20 to the finish line with state advocates from California, Colorado, Kentucky, and other states.
Guaranteeing the Vote for Incarcerated Voters
The Colorado Criminal Reform Justice Coalition (CCRJC) is working with coalition partners inside and outside the legislature to push forward a bill [[link removed]] that would expand in-person voting to every jail in the state. The coalition has worked closely with the Secretary of State’s office to pilot a powerful and productive partnership in two Denver jails and is now looking to scale up and ensure that every eligible, incarcerated voter can cast a ballot.
During The Sentencing Project’s regular jail-based voting calls, coalitions from Colorado, Washington D.C., Michigan, Massachusetts, Illinois, and other jurisdictions have shared best practices and challenges about their jail-based voting programs to the group of over 50 jail-based voting advocates.
Research and Advocacy to Expand the Franchise
Academics and advocates are increasingly using data and research to advance voting rights campaigns and increase civic participation amongst people with felony convictions. Research teams at universities — and those embedded in community organizations — have undertaken studies in recent years on what messages and practices successfully mobilize justice-impacted communities in states including New Jersey, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Texas.
Building off a panel at last summer’s Civic Power conference [[link removed]] , The Sentencing Project co-organized a webinar with Initiate Justice, Grassroots Leadership, and Forward Justice. The panel included formerly incarcerated leaders, advocates, and academics discussing how they are using data and research to advance voting rights campaigns. The discussion explored how data shows effective ways to engage justice-impacted communities, emerging areas of research, and how research campaigns have enhanced community organizing and advocacy efforts. You can view the webinar here [[link removed]] .
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[[link removed]] Nicole D. Porter
Senior Director of Advocacy
Email: [email protected] [[email protected]]
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