Updated: Oct. 21, 2024, 7:02 p.m. | Published: Oct. 21, 2024, 6:54 p.m.
As the Rev. Jesse Jackson made his way down the halls of Dauphin County Prison, he stopped to shake hands and speak with incarcerated men.
The civil rights icon was touring the jail as part of a larger effort to make sure people who are incarcerated are aware of their rights to vote in the upcoming general election.
“We want them to have the information but we also need to inspire them to vote,” Jackson said.
While Jackson was stopped to talk to men on D Block, at least one man requested an application to register, which staff provided him to fill out.
Jackson’s visit was made possible by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, the Pennsylvania Prison Society and Jackson’s organization the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Dauphin County Prison was selected because of the efforts of jail officials, with help from non-profit groups like 1 Vote Counts, to increase voter turnout inside the facility.
Michelle Mardenborough founded 1 Vote Counts to help educate people about the electoral process. The group also provides civic education inside Dauphin County Prison.
Leigh Owens, education and advocacy director for the Pennsylvania Prison Society, said that a survey in 2020 found that only 50 mail-in ballots were submitted out of the 20,000 to 30,000 people incarcerated daily in jails across Pennsylvania.
Through the efforts of Dauphin County Prison and 1 Vote Counts, more than 110 people in the jail have registered to vote and the jail has processed more than 130 absentee ballots.
“Voting is not just elevating a candidate,” Owens said. “It’s about providing power to people who have typically been disenfranchised.”
In Pennsylvania, incarcerated people are eligible to vote except if they are serving a sentence for a felony conviction or have been convicted of violating the state’s election law within the last four years, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Individuals who are incarcerated while awaiting trial, which is the majority of people in Dauphin County Prison, and those serving a misdemeanor sentence are all eligible to vote in the state while incarcerated.
People who are on probation or parole, even for a felony, are also eligible to vote in Pennsylvania.
“Once you are home, you can vote,” Owens said.
Jackson was accompanied by local elected officials including Commissioner Justin Douglas, who is the oversight commissioner for the jail, state Representative Dave Madsen and Harrisburg City Councilman Lamont Jones, who previously spent time locked up at the jail and now works with incarcerated people to change their lives for the better.
A bill introduced in October 2023 aims to model some of the policies in place at Dauphin County Prison to help increase voter turnout in jails and prisons. The bill would require the Pennsylvania Department of State to create a uniform policy for all correctional facilities to provide civic education and voter information to incarcerated people.
Jones said that while he was incarcerated off and on for more than a decade earlier in his life he was never told he had the right to vote.
“You have an opportunity for who serves you,” Jones said. “You get to select who your mayor is, who your council member is, who your commissioner is. Elections have consequences.”
Jones highlighted the election of Douglas last fall. Douglas won his seat by fewer than 190 votes, which he said included some incarcerated people.
Commentaires