More Ex-Prisoners Can Vote — They Just Don’t Know It
Do states have an obligation to educate formerly incarcerated people about their new rights?
The last few years have been good for former prisoners hoping to regain the ability to vote. In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued pardons in May to nearly 25,000 parolees in order to restore their voting rights. In Virginia, in an ongoing effort to get more people to the polling booth, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, have used executive powers to reinstate the rights of approximately 200,000 people with felony records.
And in Florida, where 1.7 million people are banned from voting because of criminal histories, on the ballot this November would give back the vote to every formerly incarcerated person not convicted of
