Voting Rights

Four lawmakers explain why they introduced legislation to finally end felony disenfranchisement in New York.

Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way.

A grassroots coalition is showing up at locations across the swing state to ensure Black and Latinx voters can cast their ballots safely.

If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible.

The state representative wants to pass paid family leave, repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe vs. Wade abortion ban, and increase access to the ballot through automatic voter registration and same-day registration.

Leger Fernandez, whose district includes Navajo Nation and several Pueblo reservations, wants to pass universal healthcare and improve infrastructure in tribal and rural communities.

Quezada has supported progressive policies since starting out in the state legislature in 2012. He’s now running for his final term, which could be his most important, given the state’s changing power dynamics.

A measure on the ballot next month would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, a change that advocates say would crucially expand the voting pool.

The Adolescent Redemption Project, a new group organized by Michigan prisoners sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, is advocating for progressive prosecutors.

The group is seeing real challenges posed by the pandemic, voter suppression tactics, and threats of intimidation.

Last week’s problems in New York were part of a widespread series of issues, both systemic and targeted, that are only now becoming fully apparent, activists say.

Passing the HEROES Act would provide crucial protections to some of the most vulnerable essential workers, they say.

Proposition 17 would allow people with felony convictions to cast ballots while they are on parole.

Although some GOP election officials have moved to allow mail-in ballots to be counted early, outdated rules in other key Republican-led states could feed President Trump’s Election Day fearmongering.

The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote.

Enabling widespread voter suppression is shaping up to be the Roberts Court’s most consequential accomplishment, because every other aspect of the Republican agenda depends on it.

This year’s presidential contest will be the first since a federal judge lifted a decades-old consent decree barring the Republican National Committee from engaging in “ballot security,” or voter intimidation at the polls.

‘We literally held an election during a pandemic.’

People in nearly every state are under some form of a stay-at-home order because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But today in Wisconsin, residents must decide whether they want to protect their health or participate in democracy. The state’s Democratic governor tried to postpone in-person voting in the presidential primary and local elections, but Republican legislators and a […]

Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Democrats who hope to retake the White House in November are seeking to turn out voters—a lot of them. According to one information systems professor who worked for President […]

Advocates worry the widespread confusion may have a chilling effect on eligible voters.

Prison-based gerrymandering takes political power away from Black and Latinx communities—power that could be used to push for more funding for schools, social services, infrastructure, and other important reforms.

The court found that a law that critics described as a poll tax violates the Constitution.

The bill would disproportionately affect the 140,000 people whose voting rights were recently restored.

A claimed victory in Kentucky and wins in Virginia mean hundreds of thousands of people could have their right to vote restored.

Lawyers and advocates in Miami-Dade County will roll out a new plan to counter the disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions.

With Jailhouse Lawyers Speak spokesperson and Right 2 Vote national coordinator Amani Sawari

Right now, only the whitest states—Maine and Vermont—allow prisoners to vote. Washington, D.C., could change that.

Florida is poised to pass a law that imposes a ‘poll tax’ on thousands of formerly incarcerated people.

The legislation is part of a wave of bills across the country meant to criminalize mistakes in the name of voter fraud.

Lawmakers are redefining certain crimes in order to carve out broad exceptions to who can regain the right to vote.

With Appeal staff reporter Kira Lerner

Lawmakers are debating whether to let people with felony convictions vote—but there could be a catch.

Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson prosecuted Crystal Mason for casting an illegal ballot. But Wilson escaped charges for a possible election violation of her own.

As Thursday’s election approaches, confusion reigns.

Lewis Conway Jr., a formerly incarcerated activist running for Austin City Council, sits down with The Appeal.

When Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that he would restore voting rights to New Yorkers on parole, he won instant praise from organizers who had long pushed for criminal justice reform. “This executive order will mean thousands more will be welcomed back into our democracy and assured that in 21st century America, the right to vote is […]