John,

Most of us believe in second chances – if you’ve messed up and are convicted of a felony, you should have the opportunity to fully reintegrate into your community after serving your sentence, and that includes regaining your right to vote. But it turns out, reality is often not so simple.

The system is confusing enough to begin with: the rules about if or when someone can regain their voting rights after a felony conviction vary wildly by state. But our research found that even after release from prison, millions of citizens are being kept from the polls simply on the basis of wealth, because voting rights restoration is hinged on their ability to pay fines and fees from their conviction. Lawmakers have created a new modern-day poll tax.

Is your state one of the 30 that disenfranchises people based on their ability to pay? Read Can’t Pay, Can’t Vote, our new report with Georgetown Civil Rights Clinic.

Here are just two of the stories of disenfranchised citizens we’ve met through our work to restore voting rights to people with felony histories:

As I noted in a New York Times op-ed last year, the significant challenges to economic stability after someone leaves prison make them even more vulnerable to poverty, and under this pay-to-vote system, even less likely to be able to regain their right to vote.

Poll taxes have been illegal since the 1960s, but do they survive now in another form? Read more about people like Bonnie and Alfonzo, and the millions of people with stories just like theirs.

Thank you for supporting a democracy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

Danielle Lang
CLC Co-Director, Voting Rights & Redistricting

P.S. Just yesterday, The New York Times editorial board also featured our report in their Sunday editorial, citing that 10 million people owe a combined $50 billion in fines and fees related to criminal convictions nationwide.