Voting Behind Bars: Perspectives from Incarcerated Residents

• In Event: Voting Rights and Transiency in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

In O’Brien v. Skinner (1974), the U.S. Supreme Court held that legally qualified voters cannot be denied the right to vote due to their incarceration status. Incarceration in itself though has been shown to pose additional challenges to voting for residents who retain their voting rights under state, territory, or district laws. To better understand voting during a period of incarceration, we partnered with the Maine Department of Corrections. Maine is one of the few jurisdictions where incarcerated residents serving a sentence for a felony conviction retain their voting rights. To better understand incarcerated residents’ voting experiences, we administered a survey to incarcerated residents in a Maine correctional facility. The survey asked incarcerated residents questions about their views on voting, their voting behavior while incarcerated, their perceptions of barriers and facilitators to voting while incarcerated, as well as their anticipated voting behavior upon release. The findings speak to the various processes within the correctional setting that help or hinder voting while incarcerated. Ultimately, incarcerated residents' lived experiences should help inform how voting is implemented and facilitated in a prison setting.

Authors

• Kristen M. Budd, The Sentencing Project

• Rachel Jollie, The Sentencing Project