The detainees at Rikers Island have lost their liberty, but most still have the right to vote — so the city should open polling sites behind bars, advocates wrote Monday.
People in custody currently use absentee ballots to vote. Though roughly 90% are eligible because they have not been convicted of a felony, a much smaller percentage of inmates actually cast ballots.
While the total jail population has been more than 5,000 since September, just 301 detainees voted in the November general election using absentee ballots they received in a voter registration drive between August 2021 and October 2021, Correction Department figures show.
In a letter sent to the city Board of Elections, the Legal Aid Society said the law requires “adequate and equitable access” to polling sites — a standard the society argues applies to incarcerated people.
“Despite this legal mandate, those detained on Rikers effectively do not have access to any early voting site,” the letter said. “The lack of early voting options prevents detainees from being treated the same as every other New Yorker, leaving thousands of eligible voters without the option to vote early.”
Several dozen groups plan to rally on the issue outside Board of Elections headquarters in lower Manhattan at noon Tuesday.
Greg Williams, 57, who was detained at Rikers in 2020 on a parole violation, said the absentee system was confusing. “It just didn’t work the way they had it set up,” said Williams, an activist with the advocacy group Freedom Agenda.
“People didn’t know how to get absentee ballots in a timely fashion, who they were supposed to turn to, and there was no one to really advise them. Sometimes, the info they are supposed to give you gets dumped in a box and sits there for weeks.”
Correction officials say the agency favors the idea, but creating polling sites in the jails is up to the Board of Elections. The Correction Department would handle security and logistics.
“We are proud of the ongoing work we’re doing to encourage voter engagement in our facilities,” Correction Department spokeswoman Shayla Mulzac said. “From distributing and hand-delivering voter registration forms and ballots, to educating individuals in our custody about their right to vote, we are dedicated to ensuring that individuals have an active voice in matters that affect their communities.”
Mulzac said the Correction Department provides voter information packets with ballot request forms and deadlines and makes voter guides available on tablets used by detainees. The June 2022 primary voter guide is being uploaded.
She said the agency conducts monthly registration efforts and uses the weekly COVID-19 flyer to inform the jail population about voting news. Law library staffers help with information. And she said people released from Rikers are given voter information and a registration form.
However, voting rights activist Takeasha Newton says the Correction Department’s suffrage record is mixed.
Newton, who was last at Rikers doing voter outreach on May 25, said the agency allows just one day a month to register detainees and there’s often no staff available to escort volunteers. Access to voter information is limited, she said.
“I want to acknowledge they’ve come a very long way, but they have a way to go,” said Newton, a fellow with the Alliance of Families for Justice. “It’s important because our communities are greatly disenfranchised.”
