People held in jail while awaiting their day in court have the right to vote. But few have the chance to exercise that right on Election Day.
In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people held in jail pretrial have a right to vote. But the Court did not require jails to provide those behind bars with voting booths or write-in ballots, and today very few do. Does that seem right to you?
Voting offers a path to reform injustices in the criminal legal system, like money bail and overcriminalization. Making voting accessible to people who have been harmed by these systems—especially when most people who are held in jail have not been convicted of a crime—is essential.
