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I have a criminal record; can I vote?

Many in jail can - and will - cast November ballot

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 4, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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"Getting back the right to vote - that's an American right. It's huge," Michael Biggio says.

Photo by Special to the Rocky

"Getting back the right to vote - that's an American right. It's huge," Michael Biggio says.

Denver County Jail inmate Akinyele Chatmon fills out an absentee ballot Friday. In Colorado, people on probation, with past criminal records, in jail on a misdemeanor charge or in jail awaiting a trial are eligible to vote.

Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

Denver County Jail inmate Akinyele Chatmon fills out an absentee ballot Friday. In Colorado, people on probation, with past criminal records, in jail on a misdemeanor charge or in jail awaiting a trial are eligible to vote.

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Scores of Colorado voters will cast ballots this fall from unlikely places.

County jails.

About 150 inmates in the Denver County Jail are signed up to vote by mail, said Maj. Vicki Connors, the operations director. That's about three times the number who voted in 2004. And other inmates serving in work-release will be permitted to cast ballots on Election Day, she said.

In Jefferson County, 25 to 30 inmates are signed up to cast mail ballots, spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said.

It is unclear how many other inmates across Colorado will vote. But the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition said it hopes voter participation is higher this year as the result of interest in the presidential election and a 2005 law that allows people serving misdemeanor sentences to vote.

Still, there's lots of confusion about whether inmates and people with criminal records can vote.

Even some local election officials in Colorado didn't know the rules governing voting eligibility among people with criminal records, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

Eligibility varies from state to state. Maine and Vermont allow prisoners to vote, while Kentucky and Virginia don't permit people with felony convictions ever to vote except with permission from the governor, the report said.

In Colorado people serving a felony sentence or still on parole cannot vote. But people on probation, with past criminal records, in jail on a misdemeanor charge or in jail awaiting a trial can vote.

The criminal justice coalition has been working to improve public education in Colorado about voter eligibility. It recently distributed 50,000 brochures, including ones entitled "Can I Vote from Jail?" to government agencies, jails and voter registration drives.

"It's incredibly confusing," said Ben Hanna, state director of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which is conducting one of the largest voter drives in Colorado. "We have to train our circulators almost daily on ex-felon voting rights. A lot of people just don't know."

Hanna estimates his circulators registered hundreds of people with criminal pasts who thought they couldn't vote.

One problem is that people who are convicted of a felony get canceled from voter rolls and need to re-register when they've finished their sentences or parole. But they don't receive any notification of when they are eligible to re-register.

Michael Biggio, an ex-felon who signed up to vote last month, estimates that as few as 5 percent of ex-felons register. He said they face so many reductions of rights that they assume they can't vote.

Carol Peeples, of the criminal justice coalition, said the issue is politically sensitive. Some jails promote voting among eligible inmates, and some don't.

Peeples applauds the recent effort of the Denver jail administrators, who are improving their system for helping inmates vote.

Even with outreach to the inmates, fewer than one-quarter of those eligible signed up.

Connors said she chose to work with the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition on the voting project because voting is "a very important constitutional right."

"I swear to uphold their rights," she said. "That's my job."

IN HIS OWN WORDS: MICHAEL BIGGIO

Michael Biggio went to prison on marijuana and assault charges in 2000 and completed his parole last week.

Last year, the 29-year-old from Littleton founded the Free Coalition, which stands for Felons Regaining Equal Employment. He runs the nonprofit from Denver and is helping ex-prisoners enter society and find work. Here's what he says about voting. His comments have been edited for space and clarity:

* I've never voted in my life. I spent the majority of my life incarcerated. While I was in the prison system there was some going back and forth and some misinformation about whether we could vote.

I argue with ex-prisoners every day. Sometimes they are heated arguments. They tell me, "No, I can't vote." The main confusion is for people on probation, who are permitted to vote.

I registered to vote a few weeks ago. I recently walked by a voter registration table and they asked me if I was registered. It was the first time I said "yes."

I'll go to the polls on Election Day. I'll get my "I voted" sticker, put it on and run around and show everybody.

Being able to vote is a big deal. When you go to prison, you get everything taken away from you. It's all about getting as many rights back as you can.

Getting back the right to vote - that's an American right. It's huge. It's the final step.

It's practical and it's symbolic as well.

Comments

  • October 4, 2008

    9:29 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Who_Me writes:

    What is the legal definition of ex-felon? (Not an issue with anyone, just curious about definitions). A felon who had his record expunged? Conviction overturned? But if you have a felony conviction, aren't you a (labeled) felon the rest of your life? We do the same labeling for murderers and sex offenders. If you offended once, you get labeled as an offender, like it's an ongoing thing. Same with murder. Drug users - if you used once, aren't you a user the rest of your life, by the same labeling line of thought?

  • October 4, 2008

    10:47 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JohnSmith2 writes:

    In the context of voting rights, it means that if you've been convicted of a felony and have finished serving your sentence and are not on parole, you have the right to vote.

  • October 4, 2008

    12:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Michael writes:

    Voting is a state's rights issue - as is how to count the vote, who can vote, process and procedure. We are a republic of 50 states and we have 50 separate presidential elections every 4 years - not just 1. Each state has the right to set its own laws and rules on this matter. The US Constitution spells that out.

  • October 4, 2008

    12:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    INC writes:

    I am surprised republicans screaming "voter fraud" aren't here as yet.
    They certainly do not see simple voting as a right.

    Deadline to register for this election is MONDAY Oct 6!!!
    to check your voting status go here...

    http://www.sos.state.co.us/Voter/vote...

    if not registered... go here...

    http://www.elections.colorado.gov/adm...

    Fill it out and HAND DELIVER IT, signed, to the County clerk you live in. All county clerks addresses are listed on the second page.

    Do so by close of business Monday Oct. 6 !
    or you cannot vote.

  • October 4, 2008

    1:58 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Stan_Weekes writes:

    Ah, how about a Democrat discussing "voter fraud"?

    As a very basic human right, a qualified person has the good fortune to vote in what is an increasing technically coordinated election.

    When IBM computer punch cards arrived in Boulder they must have been viewed with hesitancy by the unsophisticated. And the voter roles were and still are based on trusting individuals to be honest about their citizenship. You went to very localized polling places where the older gals knew everyone in the precinct, or so it seemed.

    Now we have Motor Voter, advocacy groups of every sort paying folks to gather in the faithful, on-line this and that, and an increased mantra of 'no one is illegal' and 'every vote must count'. With only an affirmation for proof, how can we assume the basic database of eligible caster's is accurate evidence of citizenship of the electorate?

    Garbage in, garbage out.

    Just as we need to show proof of lawful presence to obtain a Drivers License or Photo ID, a one time determination of Citizenship should be required.

    So make sure to get that provisional ballot cast, as WE may need it, if it's close, wink, wink. If the door is just wide open, why bother with registering people, or limiting by age, or criminal history, or deadlines.

    Utility bills are such great proof.

  • October 4, 2008

    3:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Uno writes:

    Child molesters, rapists, murderers unite. Here comes the left to restore your rights and freedom. Now you can vote to raise taxes on your victims and vote to retain the most bleeding-heart judges to make sure the cycle of violence continues in your favor.

  • October 4, 2008

    3:39 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    HolierThanThou writes:

    The problem with taking away anyone's right to vote is that conservatives use that to delete innocent citizens off the voting registry as they did in Florida in 2000.

    Even before then, conservatives used poll taxes and quiz schemes in the 1960s to deny people their right to vote because they were black.

    Don't accept anyone (no matter what their record) being deprived their right to a vote. The next one to get turned away from the polls could be you.

  • October 4, 2008

    4:21 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Stan_Weekes writes:

    Youth is a wonderful thing. For those of us a bit more mature, who lived the history of being in the South, fighting for civil rights in the Sixties, the vote is a very valuable trust. I wish we were made to dip our index fingers in indelible ink, which for days would segregate those who exercised the vote from the slugs who shined it on. What a waste.

    Perhaps a review of LBJ's crude methods of voter encouragement, or the Chicago political mafia's machine would enlighten younger folks to the age old power manipulation of those in control. Conservatives don't have a lock on voter fraud or election fixing. It probably goes back to the beginning of history.

    After all, it's always been a battle between those with the money and power--who want to keep it-- and those of us who think it belongs with the people.

  • October 4, 2008

    8:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    rakofgor writes:

    Please correct me if I am wrong and I hope I am.
    I just received junk mail from the Democratic party addressed to people that have not lived at my address for years. It contained blank requests for vote-by-mail voter registrations. According to the application, one just needs a name, address, birthday and signature to register to vote by mail. Can voter fraud really be that simple and easy? Will my vote be watered down by people mailing cards with made up names, b-days and signatures?