By Stephanie Behne
In Illinois, the only way individuals can be barred from voting is if they are serving prison sentences or awaiting sentencing in jail for felony convictions.
According to the most recent data posted on the Illinois Department of Corrections’ Web site, about 45,500 people are serving time in state prisons or adult transition centers—more than 24,000 of them are from Cook County. The daily population at Cook County Jail averages about 9,800, according to the Cook County Department of Corrections’ Web site.
Derek Schnapp, a spokesman with the Illinois Department of Corrections, said voting rights are automatically restored to qualifying voters upon release from incarceration, whether through parole or completed sentence.
Illinois is among 48 states that bar the incarcerated from casting a ballot while in prison, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Only Maine and Vermont allow inmates serving their prison terms to vote.
But Illinois is less restrictive in its approach compared to other states. Kentucky and Virginia deny the right to vote to all ex-offenders who have completed their sentences, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that conducts criminal justice research. In Kentucky, that’s more than 186,000 people or 6 percent of the state’s population. In Virginia, the policy bars more than 377,000 people or 7 percent of that state’s population, The Sentencing Project reports.
Nine other states disenfranchise ex-offenders in some way. Florida and Mississippi bar voting for certain felony convictions, while Delaware, Wyoming and Nebraska allow ex-offenders to seek the restoration of their voting rights after a waiting period, according to The Sentencing Project.
In all, 5.3 million Americans aren’t allowed to vote because of a felony conviction, according to the ACLU.
Ed Yohnka, director of communications for the ACLU of Illinois, said the policies are too restrictive. “When you look at the number nationally, there are simply too many people still, even after paying their debt to the society, that are shut out,” he said.
According to Steve Patterson, spokesman for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, all pre-trial detainees in the Cook County Jail receive a voter registration application, and registered detainees can cast an absentee ballot.
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