Dear friend,

Votes are still being counted in some places, but we wanted to share a few results from Tuesday's elections that relate to criminal justice reform. While some of the ballot questions and races fall outside of FAMM's mission — sentencing and prison reform — the results give us insight into how the country is becoming more receptive to smarter criminal justice policies:

• Five states moved toward legalization of marijuana, with recreational or medical use being approved in Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota. Voters in Oregon approved a ballot measure that decriminalizes the possession of all drugs and seeks to replace incarceration with treatment.
• In California, voters soundly defeated a ballot measure that would have reversed past reforms that let people earn early release, and reclassified certain crimes as misdemeanors. Golden State voters also approved a proposal to allow people with felony convictions to vote while on parole. The victory restores the right to vote for approximately 50,000 people.
• Voters in Nevada approved a measure intended to increase the number of pardons and commutations in the state. The new law requires the State Board of Pardons Commissioners to make clemency decisions by a majority vote of its members without requiring the governor to be part of the majority vote.
• Attorney Tarra Simmons became the first person convicted of a felony to win a seat in the Washington State legislature. In addition, a number of reform-minded candidates running for state or county attorney — including, most notably, in Los Angeles County, California, and Maricopa County, Arizona — were victorious.

Unfortunately, voters in Oklahoma rejected a ballot measure that would have prohibited prosecutors from trying to increase a person’s sentence based on any prior non-violent felonies the person might have committed.

FAMM has been around for 30 years, and we will work with anyone and everyone the voters elect to office. Tuesday's election results, however, have left us optimistic that momentum for criminal justice reform is still growing.

Best,

Kevin Ring
President, FAMM

P.S. Help us keep the momentum going through the rest of the year and beyond — make a donation to FAMM and your gift will be DOUBLED: https://secure.everyaction.com/UCT_4puDKkCSCL2maz23eQ2