Update

As the presidential election approaches, it’s important to remember that many incarcerated people, as well as those with a past felony conviction, are eligible to vote.

Anyone not currently incarcerated on a felony conviction and is otherwise eligible to vote can cast a ballot in Pennsylvania. This includes the vast majority of people being held in county jails.

“We have found that most Pennsylvanians don’t know that if an individual is serving time for a misdemeanor or awaiting trial they can register to vote and request a ballot to vote by mail,” says Leigh Owens, the Prison Society’s education and advocacy director.

It’s not too late to do so. The deadline to register is October 21, and the deadline to apply for a mail ballot is October 29. In both cases, the county election office must receive the completed application forms by this date, either by mail or online.

When registering, incarcerated people should provide their residential address, not the prison address. They can, however, put down the prison address on the mail-in ballot application as the place to send their ballot if they expect to remain incarcerated on election day.

The county election office must receive the completed mail ballot by 8 p.m. on November 5 for the vote to be counted.

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Fighting disenfranchisement behind bars

Barriers to voting in county jails mean that very few incarcerated people are able to exercise their right to vote. In the last presidential election, only 52 people requested mail ballots from addresses associated with Pennsylvania county jails out of a statewide jail population of 25,000, according to an analysis by All Voting is Local, Committee of Seventy, Common Cause, and the Prison Society. Our coalition also found that most county jails did not have any written policy to support voting in jail, and one-third had no established procedures to facilitate voting. 

In addition, policies that restrict physical mail may prevent mail-in ballots from being delivered to people in jail. Many jails contract with third-party vendors who receive mail addressed to their residents and forward a scanned copy to the recipient. 

Fortunately, the Pennsylvania Department of State recently issued new guidance to county election offices on facilitating voting in jail. It suggests workarounds for jails with mail scanning policies and encourages local election officials to coordinate with advocates and prison staff to distribute application forms, provide information about the voting process, and collect completed forms and ballots.

Last year, State Rep. Rick Krajewski introduced legislation that would require county jails to do more to support voting, including educating incarcerated people, creating a policy detailing the process of voting from jail, and designating a staff member to carry out the process. State Senator Sharif Street introduced companion legislation in the state senate. 

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Empowering the vote brings benefits

Voting gives incarcerated people a voice that is too often unheard in our electoral system. It has benefits for public safety, too. Studies have found that people with criminal histories are less likely to commit more crimes if they are able to vote. Researchers believe that being able to engage in the political process makes them feel less isolated and promotes reintegration into the community.

“As a formerly incarcerated person, electoral engagement helped me find my calling in advocacy work,” Leigh says. “I believe the more people understand exactly how the political system works the more advocates we’ll have to help us change the status quo.”