How to End De Facto Disenfranchisement in the Criminal Justice System

By Naila AwanShruti Banerjee

More than 2 million people are incarcerated in prisons or jails each year. This population, which is often ignored and de facto disenfranchised, is disproportionately Black and brown. Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic Americans are 3.5 times, 2.1 times, and 1.08 times, respectively, more likely to be incarcerated in jail than someone who is white. These disparities exist in the prison population as well, with Black and Hispanic Americans being 5.72 times and 3.05 times, respectively, more likely to be incarcerated than someone who is white. The majority of people held in jails, as well as some of those who are held in prisons, remain eligible to vote.

COVID-19 has exposed the cracks in our current democratic system, and advocacy groups have provided recommendations for voting during the pandemic. What groups have largely failed to do, however, is address how we best protect the right to vote for eligible voters being held in prisons and jails. We must not let a pandemic exacerbate the de facto disenfranchisement these individuals face and further restrict the ability of eligible, incarcerated voters to have a say in who and what laws govern them.

New York; Washington, DC: Demos, 2020. 12p.