Sergio “Serge” Hyland gets emotional when he talks about his work canvassing formerly incarcerated individuals in Pennsylvania.
Hyland spent nearly 21 years in Pennsylvania state prisons, starting when he was 19. Many of the people he meets have similar experiences. Like him, some have spent time in solitary confinement. When he talks with them, he’s empathetic. Many feel disillusioned by voting. The system failed them, they say, why should they participate?
Others aren’t voting for a simpler reason, however. “I’ve encountered several people who believe that, because they have a criminal record, they can’t vote,” says Hyland, who now works for the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC) as a parole justice advocate and assistant to ALC Executive Director Robert Saleem Holbrook.
It’s a common misconception. Even Rapper Meek Mill, in a video on Twitter, said he didn’t know if he could vote while endorsing Tom Wolf for governor in 2018. (The Twitterverse was quick to correct him.)
The truth is, since 2000, Pennsylvanians convicted of felonies can vote the moment they’re no longer incarcerated. Yet in PA, only 66,056 of the 203,409 people released from state prisons between January 2000 and October 2023 are registered to vote. This tracks nationwide: People who have been incarcerated are one of the largest disenfranchised populations in the U.S. This large untapped voting bloc that could potentially swing big elections won by modest margins.
“Voting is considered among a range of pro social behaviors — like education, quality housing, living wage employment — that [act as an] indicator of your involvement in the community.” — Nicole D. Porter, The Sentencing Project
In 2020, for example, President Biden won Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes. In 2016, former President Trump beat Hillary Clinton in PA by a little more than 44,000 votes. Previously incarcerated voters alone could have changed either or both of those outcomes.
Hyland, other incarcerated and formerly incarcerated activists, and State Rep. Rick Krajewski believe in the untapped power of registering returning citizens. They want PA to clear a pathway for people who’ve served time for felonies to become voters by automatically registering them upon release. If they succeed, PA will be following in Michigan’s footsteps.
Michigan expands ballot access
Last year, Michigan became the first state to automatically register people to vote as they leave prison. Department of Corrections officials add these people to voter rolls, using addresses they provide as part of the exit paperwork to get a government ID. The Department of State then sends them a mailer confirming their voter registration and offering an opt-out option.
Although the Michigan Department of Corrections began the practice in 2020 — registering nearly 5,000 people in three years — House Bill 4983 made the practice law. MI State Representative Penelope Tsernoglou introduced the legislation. Tsernoglou viewed the bill as a natural progression of the state’s concerted effort to improve election participation.
“We were doing a lot of other laws regarding voter access over the past couple years,” Tsernoglou says. “[So we were looking at] all sorts of different things that we could do to make voting easier, more accessible and really promote democracy in our state.”
In 2022, for example, Michiganders voted for a constitutional amendment that recognizes voting as a fundamental right and requires lawmakers to make it easier for people to vote.
Melinda Billingsley works for Voters Not Politicians, a nonprofit that advocates for voting reforms in Michigan, including House Bill 4983. Her organization believes it’s her state’s civic duty to “purposely include returning citizens and those who have been impacted by the criminal justice system,” she says. “It’s going to impact groups who have been historically marginalized in our democracy.”
Increase civic participation; reduce recidivism
Across the nation, there’s not much variety among states when it comes to allowing returning citizens to vote upon release. Maine, Vermont and Washington, D.C. allow people to vote even if they are serving time for a felony. Ten states (mostly in the South) restrict voting rights after people complete their sentences.
As with our carceral system, these policies disproportionately affect people of color.
House Bill 4983 passed with little opposition in Michigan, where Democrats, who tend to favor laws that improve voting access, control all three branches of the state government. “A lot of the votes went down on party lines,” Tsernoglou says.
PA’s divided government could hinder such legislation. State Representative Rick Krajewski from District 188, which includes University City, Walnut Hill, Spruce Hill and other parts of West Philly, has introduced a number of bills aimed at making voting easier for incarcerated people. Opponents of voting rights for people convicted of felonies argue that people who have disregarded the law shouldn’t have a say in electing future lawmakers.
During the release process, prison staff could provide them with voter registration forms — just like how people get them at the DMV under PA’s current automatic voter registration law.
These attitudes can extend to people working in state correctional facilities. Hyland once got in trouble for creating a graphic that detailed each state’s voting rights and giving it out to other prisoners. “The deputy superintendent … told me to my face, this can’t happen again,” he recalls.
Voting, however, is connected to a safe return to society. One Minnesota study found that only 12 percent of voters with a criminal record went on to be arrested for future crimes, compared to 30 percent for those that did not vote.
“Voting is considered among a range of pro social behaviors — like education, quality housing, living wage employment — that [act as an] indicator of your involvement in the community,” says Nicole D. Porter, senior director of advocacy for the criminal justice reform nonprofit The Sentencing Project. “Voting as an act helps support community safety and reduce future contact with the criminal legal system.”
Automatic voter registration for returning citizens in PA?
Right now, PA requires justice system officials tell anyone who is entering a guilty plea about their voting rights. This strategy may be well-intentioned, but it’s also inherently flawed. Who is thinking about voting while pleading guilty? Even if the message did register at the time, prison sentences can last years.
A law that automatically registers people convicted of felonies upon release would remind them that they can vote at the end of their sentence — and guarantee eligibility to vote. During the release process, prison staff could provide them with voter registration forms — just like how people get them at the DMV under PA’s current automatic voter registration law. About 16,256 men and 1,800 women were released from PA prisons in 2019, the most recent year for which data was available from the Prison Policy Institute. There are currently more than 37,000 men and women in PA’s state correctional institutions.
“Voting isn’t a priority when you’re incarcerated. Getting out to access services, seeing your family, being able to speak to your family, is a priority. It’s almost out of sight, out of mind,” says Holbrook, who, along with activists Mumia Abu-Jamal and Russell Maroon Shoatz, mentored Hyland while incarcerated. “The Department of Corrections doesn’t tell you [when you’re released] that, Hey, once you leave, you have your voting rights back.”
Activists say that voter education laws for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people need to operate on two levels in PA: state prisons and county jails. That’s because we have different voting access laws for people convicted of felonies and those convicted of misdemeanors and those who are being held pretrial. (The laws for people in federal prisons mirror the laws of the states they’re in.)
You can vote in jail
People convicted of felonies in PA lose their voting rights while incarcerated in state prisons, halfway houses and alternative correctional facilities. Once released, they can vote. The only exception is people convicted of violating election laws; they lose voting rights for four years after they’re released. (Note: These cases are incredibly rare. There were 15 convicted voter fraud cases in the U.S. 2020, including four in PA.)
People who are incarcerated pretrial or those in jail for misdemeanors never lose voting rights and can vote via absentee ballot. Few know that, however.
In 2020, only 52 out of 25,000 people (.02 percent) in county jails requested mail-in ballots, according to an analysis of public records by the nonprofits All Voting is Local, Committee of Seventy and Common Cause Pennsylvania. Last year, there were about 29,000 people in county jails. This population would benefit from receiving voter registration and absentee ballot request forms when they enter jails. Holbrook would like to see jails act as polling places.
At the very least, jail staff could help educate people about their rights and help them request ballots from county commissioners in the run-up to elections. That’s what is happening in PA’s Centre County, which, in 2018, started a voter education program in its jails. The county prison board made the program standard policy in 2022. (Officials from Centre County did not respond to requests for comment.)
“I’ve encountered several people who believe that, because they have a criminal record, they can’t vote.” — Serge Hyland, Abolitionist Law Center
Krajewski would like to see all PA counties implement similar systems to Centre County’s. Last year, he introduced House Bill 1756, which would establish similar voting standards for all jails. He’s met with wardens in 20 counties while advocating for the bill. Many of them, he says, support these reforms.
The issue for Krajewski is personal. He grew up in New York City during the war on drugs and had a family member who was incarcerated. Voting, he says, can help keep incarcerated people connected to their communities.
“I’ve been told firsthand from jail administrators who do some voter outreach, this is actually good for us, because it helps us ensure we never see this person again. Anyone involved in the carceral system, their objective should be, I should never see you again.”
Bringing ballot access to all incarcerated people
The Sentencing Project’s Porter says she hasn’t seen other states adopt measures similar to Michigan’s automatic voter registration for returning citizens. But others have adopted reforms that extend voting rights to incarcerated people. Colorado, for instance, established a program to bring in-person voting to jails.
Right now, Krajewski is eyeing a similar reform: Extend the right to vote to all incarcerated people. His House Bill 1757 would allow people convicted of felonies to vote via absentee ballot while they’re in prison — similar to the laws that exist now for jails.
These initiatives often double as education campaigns. When staff offer to help an incarcerated person register to vote, it enforces that they retain those rights.
“We feel as though just because you are in prison does not mean your civic participation ends,” Holbrook says. “Voting is one of the strongest forms of civic participation.”
In the meantime, Hyland will continue to go door to door, registering his formerly incarcerated peers. “A lot of people come home and are confused, and that’s why we were out here organizing,” Hyland says. “We’re literally on corners every day, teaching people.”
