Ex-Cons Can and Need to Vote

Former felons can't vote. Well, that's what a lot of people think, including newly released prisoners who've been told so by guards and staff.

But that notion is flat-out wrong. And to make sure that former inmates know their constitutional rights, a group called Ohio Citizen Advocates for Chemical Dependency Prevention and Treatment (OCA) is going into Ohio's prisons to change that misconception.

People who are incarcerated aren't allowed to register to vote while in prison, according to the OCA. After release, however, any former inmate — including those with a felony conviction — may register and vote.

Recovery Voices Count is the name of the program and is part of non-partisan, national campaign to “strengthen the voice of people in recovery from addiction, a statewide,” according to a press release form the group.

“This is the first time we have had the opportunity to take voter education inside the prison system,” says Donna Conley, CEO of OCA. “There are many people in prison because of their addiction, and they need to know about voting for candidates and issues that help people maintain sobriety.”

Conley taught women at the Franklin Pre-Release Center (Columbus) how to register to vote. She also asked them to request more voter education information when they leave prison.

The goal of Recovery Voices Count is to help those people in recovery, their families, friends and other allies to participate in civic engagement. Created by Faces and Voices of Recovery, the group named OCA as the local organization to lead efforts in Ohio. To that end, OCA has set a goal of getting 1,000 new voters registered by the Oct. 6 deadline.

To accomplish this goal, OCA is looking for volunteers to staff voter registration tables at venues across Ohio to encourage all eligible voters to register.

“Hopefully, we can encourage health care providers and addiction rehabilitation centers to set up registration tables too,” Conley says.

To volunteer or just learn more, contact OCA by phone (614-486-2430; toll free 888-229-1285) or e-mail (advocate@oca-ohio.org). More information is available on the web at www.oca-ohio.org.

— Margo Pierce

(Photo of prison outreach program courtesy of OCA.)

Comments

[David E. Gallaher]

As if I needed one more reason not to vote:
I will not vote as an expression of solidarity with ex-cons.

(A peaceful anarchist who has not voted since before you were born. I made the mistake of voting for Nixon in '68... If at first you don't succeed, quit.)

[Not the Mamma Cass!]

Yes, it's so critical to our democracy that sociopaths get to participate.

[Margo Pierce]

Wow - what happened to second chances, people?

The same constitution that allows you to express opinions about people who don’t behave the way you think they ought to is the same one you’re willing to trample by taking away the rights of a specific group of people you find objectionable.

When you start down that slope of classifying some people worthy and others unworthy based on an inaccurate (the majority of people who go to prison aren’t sociopaths) or judgmental criteria, there’s another group ready to explain why your group ought to be cut off next.

No, this country isn’t perfect, nor it our system of government. It was formed by and is maintained by imperfect, fallible people. But to take a defeatist attitude and do nothing is a form of tacit approval – you agree that “they” are more powerful than you and allow them to continue unchecked.

If at first you don’t succeed give up? If you really believe that then shut up and stop sharing your opinion – talking is not giving up.

[Not the Mamma Cass!]

Margo: the majority of people who go to prisons were convicted of crimes.

These people engaged in criminal behavior, violating the rights of other people.

I believe rights violations are constitutional offenses, so please do not lecture me on this; spend your time lecturing the sociopaths who think society exists for their benefit rather than their having responsibility to contribute to society's betterment.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to vote; only that they shouldn't vote, and no one should really care if they do.

When was the last time your heart bled for the victims of criminals?

You seem curiously obsessed with "the plight" of the incarcerated.

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