MARC MAUER: Gov. Cuomo’s executive order would potentially apply to the 35,000 people who are currently living in the community under parole supervision. More than half of that group, 19,000 are African American, reflecting the disproportions we see in the prison system itself. The executive order is a little ambiguous in part and says that there would be a review of people on parole for their restoration of rights. It’s not clear if the governor’s people have set up anything on that or what the criteria would be, but I think the intent of his executive order very clearly has been essentially a blanket restoration unless there’s some unusual circumstances that come to light.
BETWEEN THE LINES: So there’s a whole gamut of how states deal with voting rights of those convicted of felonies. Can you break it down for us? And we’re talking about really huge numbers, right?
MARC MAUER: We have a total of 6 million people who can’t vote because of a current or past felony conviction, but these are all dependent on state policies which are extremely broad and varied in how they play out. At one end, we have two states, Maine and Vermont, where you never lose your right to vote, including if you’re in prison. So people in those states are eligible to vote. At the other end, we have four states where any felony conviction results in a lifetime ban on the right to vote and those four states are Florida, Virginia, Kentucky and Iowa. Now it is possible to get a gubernatorial pardon in those states, but the underlying ban is lifetime and it’s across the board. And among the other states, it’s a mix of restrictions depending on whether you’re in prison or on probation or parole. And there’s a wide range there as well.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Do these folks get something when they leave prison or a letter in the mail? Do they have to go to the polls and see if they can vote? How does it work in practice?
MARC MAUER: In most states, unfortunately, there’s no means by which the state informs people about the right to vote, regardless of whether the state is restrictive or relatively lenient in this regard. But it’s rare that you get a piece of paper, the daily prison saying this is how to register to vote or the day you’re off parole or the like. So there’s been a lot of confusion about this, a lot of misinformation. This recently led to a case in Texas where a woman who was on parole, served her time in prison and was now living in the community working on parole. She went and voted in a recent election. It never occurred to her that she didn’t have the right to vote. She was prosecuted for voter fraud and recently sentenced to five years in prison for voting while she was on parole and five years for just trying to exercise her right to vote. Her argument was that she didn’t have any idea about the fact she couldn’t vote. No one in the correction system told her. It should be the obligation of every state corrections system to inform people about if and when they regain the right to vote and what the procedure is for doing that.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Have there been any studies showing what impact, having the right to vote even perhaps while incarcerated has on any other aspect of people’s experience of incarceration or post-incarceration?
MARC MAUER: Well, we don’t know very much about it. The only reports we have made in Vermont is that it’s a relative handful of people who do exercise the right to vote. But you know, when it comes to the right to vote, regardless of the group involved, if only even one person chooses to exercise that right, you know, it’s really the fundamental principle that we need to be concerned with and then once we extend the right, you know, to make sure people take advantage of it.
There’s a fair amount of literature on reentry from prison and the like, that, you know, makes a strong argument that for people to succeed in the community, they need to have investment in the community. They need to be connected in various ways. So you know, that means good family connections. It means having a job or schooling to participate in. But it also means things like electoral participation. People who are committed to the future well-being of their community are going to be less likely to go out and return to committing crimes. There’s not a lot of heavy duty research on that, but it certainly makes sense intuitively as part of a whole re-entry process that people go through.
