Returning the Right to Vote to Incarcerated People in Massachusetts: An Oral History and Data Analysis

• In Event: Penal Abolition: Session 3 of 3

Abstract

Those most impacted by policies are closest to the answers. So, it is a cruel irony that in this age of "Smart on Crime" rhetoric about changing the criminal justice system, millions of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are legally barred from participating in elections, preventing them from amassing political power with which to bring about true change. From 1792 to 2000, as a majority of states across the U.S. passed criminal disenfranchisement laws, Massachusetts remained one of the few states which allowed incarcerated people to vote, except those convicted of voter fraud. However, after a group of lifers in MCI-Norfolk prison formed the Mass. Prisoners Association Political Action Committee, the people of Massachusetts amended the constitution, disenfranchising all people incarcerated for felonies for the duration of their prison sentence. In 2016, the authors started a campaign, #Disillusioned4Disenfranchised, in collaboration with incarcerated people, to raise awareness about voter disenfranchisement in Massachusetts. Through a combination of archival investigation, oral histories and survey analysis, the authors will examine the history of the disenfranchisement of imprisoned people in Massachusetts with the goal of returning their right to vote and as a tool toward penal abolition.

Authors

• Elly Kalfus, Somerville, Massachusetts

• Rachel Corey, Somerville, Massachusetts