Voting Rights
More than 7,700 Massachusetts citizens are banned from voting in elections due to incarceration for a felony conviction. It’s time for the state to strengthen its democracy and advance racial justice by restoring the vote to its entire voting-age population.
2023, A Year of Progress: Expanding Voting Rights Across the Country
In a groundbreaking year for progress on expanding the right to vote to justice-impacted people, states like Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia have set an example of the transformative change that can happen through the will of the people. Learn how The Sentencing Project partnered and amplified the efforts of grassroots initiatives to support the passage of multiple voting rights initiatives in 2023.
Key Publications
State-Specific Voting Rights Reports
In 2022, 4.6 million Americans were banned from voting due to a felony conviction. The Sentencing Project is committed to expanding voting rights in every state and works with state partners to provide specific data on state felony disenfranchisement.
Anytime a member of a society is not afforded the right to express his or her opinions by way of the democratic process, we cannot achieve the ideals of democracy.
Testimony in Support of Restoring Voting Rights to People in Connecticut Prisons
Nicole D. Porter testifies in support of Connecticut House Bill 5702, which would guarantee voting rights to people completing their sentences regardless of their incarceration status.
Voting Rights
Effective democracy requires universal voting access and guaranteed voting rights for all citizens. Laws that ban people with felony convictions from voting, or policies that undermine voting by incarcerated people eligible to vote, harm our democracy and the millions of citizens who are excluded from it. These voting bans have disproportionately diluted the political power of Black and brown communities. Help us end voting restrictions for people with felony convictions by sharing these facts on social media.
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4.6 million
Americans are banned from voting due to felony convictions.
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48 states
bar people from voting in prison. Only Maine, Vermont, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico allow voting in prison.
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1 in 19
voting-age Black Americans have lost their voting rights due to a felony conviction—3.5 times the rate among non-Black Americans.
Join the movement to expand voting rights for all
Help us apply political and legal pressure to ensure that a person’s criminal legal system involvement does not influence their voting eligibility or lead to other permanent exclusions and limitations from civic life.
