Free citizens, but disenfranchised: The struggle of four million ex-convicts to regain their political voice

Nearly all have served their sentences. Some are still on parole. They want to reenter society, having paid in prison for the crimes they committed. But being free again does not mean they have regained all their rights: in 48 states, those convicted of a felony are denied the right to vote. Due to state laws across the country, an estimated four million previously convicted Americans will not be able to vote in the November 5 election, in which Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, faces Donald Trump, a convicted felon. That is one in 59 adult citizens, according to a new report by The Sentencing Project, a research center that advocates for the reform of the criminal justice system in the United States, one of the few countries that deprives its ex-convict population of this right. Among those millions, the most affected communities are Black and Latino.

“In this historic election year, questions persist about the stability of democratic institutions, election fairness, and voter suppression in marginalized communities. The systematic exclusion of millions with felony convictions should be front and center in these debates,” the report’s authors note. The 4-million figure represents a 31% drop since 2016, as more states enact policies to restrict the practice and prison populations decline.

This week, Nebraska became the latest state to uphold this right: The state Supreme Court ruled that all previously convicted felons who have completed their sentences can vote without restrictions. Although Nebraska abolished a lifetime voting ban for ex-felons in 2005, until recently the state still required people to wait two years after completing their sentences before being allowed to vote. When the local legislature repealed that rule in April, the state’s top election official slammed on the brakes, arguing that restoring that right was unconstitutional.

But Nebraska’s highest court sided with lawmakers, ordering that all obstacles be removed to fully restoring voting rights to this population. The Sentencing Project estimates that the court’s decision will allow 7,000 ex-felons to vote on November 5, although they will have to race against time to register before the Oct. 25 deadline. “The Nebraska Supreme Court sided with justice, affirming that thousands of Nebraskans deserve the opportunity to have their voices heard. This decision is a significant step toward dismantling the barriers that have long silenced people with felony convictions,” said Nicole D. Porter, advocacy director for The Sentencing Project.

“Nebraska, however, must not stop there,” Porter added. “True justice requires extending voting rights to all citizens, regardless of their current legal status, ensuring that everyone can contribute to shaping the future of our communities.” Even with the new change in the law, 12,000 individuals remain outside the electoral process because they are still serving their sentences. Although Nebraska is not one of the seven coveted swing states, it does have a peculiarity that makes it relevant in every campaign: it awards one electoral vote to the winner of each of its electoral districts. Therefore, every vote counts, especially in the city of Omaha, the only Democratic stronghold in a solidly Republican state.

Nebraska is one of 28 states—including Pennsylvania and North Carolina, two key territories in an extremely close campaign—where the rate of disenfranchisement of Latinos is higher than that of the general population, according to the report by The Sentencing Project, published before the Nebraska court made its decision. There, 1.93% of the Latino population eligible to vote is disenfranchised, compared to 1.5% nationwide. It is estimated that there are 495,647 Latinos disenfranchised across the country, although researchers at The Sentencing Project warn that “data on ethnicity in correctional populations are unevenly reported and undercounted in some states.” Therefore, it is likely that the figures provided by the research center underestimate the real rate in many territories.

Black and Latino people in the United States are more likely to be targeted by police and imprisoned than white people, and are therefore more likely to lose their right to vote. One in three Black children born today can expect to go to prison in their lifetime, as can one in six Latinos, compared to one in 17 whites, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It is a vicious cycle in which communities of color suffer “a disproportionate impact,” the authors of the report point out.

The numbers bear this out: While 1.7% of people of voting age nationwide will be disenfranchised on November 5 due to prior criminal convictions, that rate rises to 4.5% among the African-American population. The figure exceeds 5% in 15 states and 10% in five other territories (Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota and Tennessee). In total, that is 1.3 million Black people. And as for the half a million Latinos formerly incarcerated without the right to vote, researchers at The Sentencing Project explain that many of them “were convicted at a time when the Latino population was significantly smaller than it is today.” “Because the overall U.S. Latino population has more than quadrupled since 1980, we anticipate that Latino disenfranchisement will comprise an increasing share of those disenfranchised due to felony convictions in coming years,” they note.

The Florida case

Florida has been and continues to be the national leader in absolute disenfranchisement, according to The Sentencing Project. In this year’s election, 961,757 citizens of that state will be disenfranchised. Of those, an estimated 730,000 remain disenfranchised despite a 2018 ballot referendum that promised to restore it.

In November of that year, Florida voters approved an amendment to their Constitution that restored voting rights to most people who had completed their sentences, with the exception of those convicted of sex crimes and murder. In 2019, however, the state legislature passed a law with new restrictions: Any ex-convict who wants to vote again must first pay all court-ordered monetary penalties.

This rule has once again left thousands without access to the electoral process “because most of these people are not in a position to pay,” explains attorney Cesar Ruiz, of the national organization Latino Justice. “These are fines and fees associated with the charges against them, their confinement in the prison system and their release, so they can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars,” explains the attorney specializing in voting rights.

“This has created a huge barrier that we are still trying to deal with,” Ruiz adds. And it is a barrier that has created a “system of confusion” because “determining the amount of fines and fees that a person must pay is a really arduous process,” he explains. There is no state entity that oversees it, but rather everything goes through counties and local governments, whose records are not always consistent. That lack of information leaves formerly incarcerated people without knowing whether they are eligible to vote or not.

Ruiz recalls how in the 2020 and 2022 elections, formerly incarcerated individuals went to the polls thinking that their right to vote had already been restored and were arrested again for trying to vote illegally because they had not paid the fees they owed to the State. The electoral officials themselves allowed them to vote because, like them, they were unaware of the details of the new law.

“It’s been a very difficult process that has depressed voter turnout in the communities where we live because the criminal justice system disproportionately targets the Black and Latino population,” says Ruiz, who is worried that the same thing will happen this November.

Some progress

The Sentencing Project notes that since the last presidential election, there has been progress in restoring this right. Since 2020, 11 states have enacted laws or regulatory changes that expand voting rights to some people with felony convictions and who have already been released from prison.

In the case of the Latino population, changes in the laws have meant that in the last four years, the number of Latinos formerly incarcerated without the right to vote has decreased from 561,486 to 495,647.

Yet in half the country, parolees and probationers are still being denied this right. At the most extreme end, 10 states still have not restored this right to ex-offenders who have successfully completed their prison, probation or parole sentences. And with this year’s election just weeks away, only two states — Maine and Vermont — will allow their formerly convicted population to go to the polls without any restrictions.

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