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August 25, 2005
SF Reaching out to people who are incarcerated to vote
Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
(08-23) 10:18 PDT San Francisco (SF Chronicle) -- The San Francisco Department of Elections is reaching out to a class of city residents who may not be aware they can register to vote — jail inmates and former convicts who have completed their prison sentences and parole.
Elections director John Arntz said he sees the new outreach program as a way to increase voter registration while honoring inmates’ right to vote.
“As far as the law is concerned, they have as much right to vote as anyone else,” Arntz said. State law prohibits only those serving time in prison or on parole for a felony conviction from voting, and cancels their voter registration when they are convicted. However, those who have served their sentences and completed parole can re-register.
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“Many ex-offenders do not realize that,” Arntz said. “I hope to create a program in San Francisco that can be a model for the rest of the state.”
The Elections Department’s program will supply registration cards and absentee ballot applications to San Francisco’s jails so those who are awaiting trial or serving time for misdemeanor offenses can vote. Arntz hopes to reach those who are no longer in prison by coordinating with organizations that work with ex-offenders.
The program comes at a time when civil rights advocates around the country are challenging laws that prevent people convicted of felonies from voting, sometimes for the rest of their lives.
According to the Sentencing Project, a prisoner rights advocacy group, such laws deny the vote to more than 4 million felons. Laws preventing felons from voting recently have been lifted in Nebraska, New Mexico and Iowa. They are under legal challenge in New York.
More information about the program is available at www.sfgov.org/site/elections.
E-mail Suzanne Herel at sherel@sfchronicle.com.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/23/BAvote23.DTL
Posted by lois at August 25, 2005 09:03 AM