National Day of Action for Jail & Prison Voting Rights.

Making Our Votes Count:
National Day of Action for Jail & Prison Voting Rights

On Saturday, August 16, 2008, All of Us or None will sponsor a historic national mobilization to publicize the voting rights of people with past convictions, people on probation and parole, and prisoners in county jails. This mobilization was initiated by All of Us or None, a national organizing initiative of formerly-incarcerated people, prisoners, and our families based in San Francisco. The mobilization is being co-sponsored by The Ordinary Peoples Society in Dalton, AL, the New Bottom Line Criminal Justice Consortium, and other organizations around the country. We are fighting to win full restoration of all of our rights after a conviction or imprisonment. One of the most important rights people lose by going to prison is the right to vote, so voter re-enfranchisement is key to successful reentry back into the community. People who have been in prison are determined to build political power in order to win back our rights, and one expression of political power is exercising our right to vote.

In California, All of Us or None was a named plaintiff in a lawsuit where judges ruled in December 2006 that prisoners serving sentences in county jails have the right to vote. In order to publicize and enforce this ruling, All of Us or None-California will sponsor voter education and registration efforts in 7 counties on August 16. In Alameda, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Mateo, Sacramento, San Diego, and Orange Counties, members of All of Us or None and allied voting rights organizations will register voters in county jail visiting lines. In addition to informing family members of their right to register and vote, we will distribute information regarding voter registration procedures inside each county jail. Dorsey Nunn, co-founder of All of Us or None noted, “Confusion and misinformation about voting rights of incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated people, and people with past convictions happened over the course of decades, at a minimum through benign neglect, and at worst deliberate disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of people. The lessons coming out of Florida in 2000 were not only a question of hanging chads, but the open suppression of Black votes through the manipulation of felony conviction status.”

In San Diego, CA members of All of Us or None will be registering people to vote and providing voter information in visiting lines at San Diego Central Jail. Rev. Dennis Malone a local organizer for All of Us or None said, “We’re so much more than are felony conviction would ever allow us to be or become”. Here, the effort is joined by ACORN and other organizations around the country will also be registering voters in county jail and prison visiting lines on August 16. Formerly-incarcerated people throughout the U.S. are determined to unite to make our votes count and our voices heard in this year’s election.
Join us in a National Day of Action for Jail & Prison Voting Rights.

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