Avril Elfi from OAN
Monday, June 3, 2024 11:16 AM
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has signed a bill allowing inmates in county jails and prisons to vote in statewide general elections.
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On Friday, Rep. Polis (D-Colorado) signed the bill, making the statewide program the first of its kind. Currently, only a few prisons in the country offer in-person voting.
The measure includes 61 prisons and jails across Colorado, according to Jack Todd, a spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State.
In Colorado, people serving time in prison for a felony are still not allowed to vote, but people who are incarcerated awaiting trial and those serving time for misdemeanors are allowed to vote.
Colorado Sen. Julie Gonzalez, a Democrat who introduced the bill, said lawmakers agreed that people who are eligible to vote generally don’t because of “the hurdle of being in prison.”
“In Colorado, we really pride ourselves on having a first-rate election system,” Gonzalez said, “but we realized there were people out there who didn’t have full access to the ballot.”
Law enforcement and election officials are required by law to provide six hours of in-person voting and a way for people who are unable to leave their homes to register to vote, and there will be a mechanism for voters to vote by mail if they prefer.
County employees would work as poll workers, and lawmakers would block anyone with a felony conviction from voting.
“One of the things we’ve heard from formerly incarcerated people is that having a voice in this election is really important to remind them that even though they’re living through the criminal justice system, they’re still part of the community, they’re still citizens of the state of Colorado and they have rights and responsibilities,” Gonzalez said.
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