Expanding Electoral Engagement
For many justice-impacted people, removing legal barriers to voting is necessary for full participation in democracy, yet eliminating legal obstacles alone would not be sufficient. Our new brief, Expanding Electoral Engagement Among Justice-Impacted People, highlights successful strategies to achieve meaningful gains in voter registration and turnout for people impacted by the justice system.
Key Publications
Expanding the Vote in Nebraska, Colorado, and more!
Nebraska passed legislation to expand voting rights to over 7,000 people with felony convictions and Colorado state partners are working to expand in-person voting to every jail in the state. Learn how The Sentencing Project works in partnership with coalitions and directly impacted people across the country to expand voting rights for all.
State-Specific Voting Rights Reports
In 2022, 4.4 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 Massachusetts Prisons and Jails
Nicole D. Porter testified in support of H 63 and S 7, legislation that would guarantee voting rights for all persons completing their sentence inside Massachusetts prisons and jails regardless of their crime of conviction.
Locked Out 2024: Four Million Denied Voting Rights Due to a Felony Conviction
This webinar discusses the findings of our report “Locked Out 2024: Estimates of People Denied Voting Rights Due to a Felony Conviction,” which found that 4 million Americans were unable to vote in the 2024 election due to felony disenfranchisement laws.
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 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 22
voting-age Black Americans have lost their voting rights due to a felony conviction—over 3 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.
