Inmates Are Getting Registered To Vote In One Of The Country’s Biggest Jails

www.huffingtonpost.com...

The three women, organizers with a nonprofit group called Chicago Votes, had gathered here in this giant jail complex that houses nearly 6,000 men and women, on a steamy Sunday afternoon in July to make a pitch. Their goal? Registering inmates to vote.
The organizers explained to the detainees that because they had not yet been convicted of a crime, they were all likely eligible to vote in November. They could vote for Illinois’ governor or even elect the sheriff who ran the jail where they were detained, they told the women.

seems kind of wild. is it a loophole situation or could not be more cut and dry?
they are not yet convicted felons so they can vote?

apparently so

The success of the program offers a glimpse of what could happen for the more than 700,000 people detained in jails across the United States. The overwhelming majority of those people can vote because they’re being held pretrial or on a misdemeanor charge. Voting establishes a connection between detainees and their communities. Nationally, over six million people can’t vote because of a felony conviction, and in some states, they can never get their right to vote back. The positive response from the Cook County detainees emphasizes what’s lost when people permanently lose this particular civil right.

“Now I can be just like the old Jeaneene. I can vote for a president; I can vote for mayors. My decision actually counts,” she said. “It makes me feel powerful. I have power now.”

i would be interested to know the specifics of this. it is very interesting

i know felons cant vote. this mentioned people for minor misdemeanor charges or pretrial

so if you are being held on felony charges you can vote? they dont suspend that right cause of the charges?

should you be able to or facing charges?
should they suspend that right?

this is a weird one cause on one hand i am a big gray area guy. i think there needs to be a gray area with most things.

felons cant vote.
ok but people being held on felony charges can... lets say

what about when you are convicted of a felony a month after the vote but you were held for a felony when you voted.
tough titty? were not a felon when they voted

i mean we cant really have pre crime minority report # going in.

i dont know. just seems interesting and something i never even thought about.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Illegals voting and felons or those incarcerated.. sounds like one political party is desperate to get votes no matter where..

Normal would be that every inhabitant has the right to vote, doesn´t matter if he once made a mistake, even if it was a huge mistake and he is doing jailtime because of that.

In Germany you automatically get your ballot papers if you are in jail and german. Because you still are a citizen of Germany. Everything else would be wrong.

a reply to: TinySickTears

I don't believe those that are currently incarcerated should be voting, however, I believe those that have paid their debt to society and have been released deserve to have ALL of their Constitutional rights restored. This includes both voting AND the right to bear arms.

I realize that opinion may be controversial, however, I would rather people have their rights than not.

originally posted by: DerBeobachter
Normal would be that every inhabitant has the right to vote, doesn´t matter if he once made a mistake, even if it was a huge mistake and he is doing jailtime because of that.

In Germany you automatically get your ballot papers if you are in jail and german. Because you still are a citizen of Germany. Everything else would be wrong.

The US is not Germany.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Okkkk...innocent until proven guilty in a court of law....I guess that's the case.

Talk about a loophole with a Slipknot? Sounds crazy to me....but if not yet a felon...?

Sux anyhow TST...thanks. Best, MS

so now we need one day get out of jail free cards to go with our one day get out of death cards??
wtf???
let's just start drafting our gov't officials...

And Hillary called the Conservatives a "basket of deplorables"

originally posted by: 727Sky
a reply to: TinySickTears

Illegals voting and felons or those incarcerated.. sounds like one political party is desperate to get votes no matter where..

lets forget about illegals for this one. lets forget felon since i already said they cant vote. we all know this.

but what about those that are incarcerated?

lets get into this.
you dont think if a person is in county they should be able to vote?

why?

does it depend on the charge?

is this a situation where the law is the law and people have the right to vote, even those in the clink.

the only thing i keep coming back to is what if john votes today and next month he is convicted of a felony he was being charged with when he voted?
thats a gray area one for me and i dont know how i feel.

not into pre crime minority report #. held for something and charged for something does not mean convicted of something?
should your right be stripped if you are not convicted?

and lets be real. just cause you are convicted of something does not mean you actually did it and just cause youve never ben arrested does not mean you a shady criminal #.

so what do we do?

a reply to: TinySickTears

I wasn't allowed to vote when I had a pending felony charge (and I wasn't in jail/prison). Luckily I only missed one midterm before the charge was cleared. Maybe that rule is different in Illinois? Unless these people are detained for misdemeanors which I find unlikely.

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: TinySickTears

I don't believe those that are currently incarcerated should be voting, however, I believe those that have paid their debt to society and have been released deserve to have ALL of their Constitutional rights restored. This includes both voting AND the right to bear arms.

I realize that opinion may be controversial, however, I would rather people have their rights than not.

i cant say i agree with you opinion on the currently incarcerated but it dont matter. not what i am interested in.

i am with you on after your dent i said you deserve all rights. 100%


the rub for me is when you start thinking about it truthfully being incarcerated does not mean you did something. being convicted does not mean you did something.

just like never being incarcerated does not mean youre clean.

at the same time its all we have to go on but i dont think it can be trusted.

the justice system is #ed up man.

i guess in the end we have to go by the law but in the real world there are people in jail that dont belong and people outside that deserve it forever.

originally posted by: sine.nomine
a reply to: TinySickTears

I wasn't allowed to vote when I had a pending felony charge (and I wasn't in jail/prison). Luckily I only missed one midterm before the charge was cleared. Maybe that rule is different in Illinois? Unless these people are detained for misdemeanors which I find unlikely.

this is something i never really thought about but i am going to spend some time on it.

i kind of feel like you should have been able to as you were not convicted of anything.

but like i said what is the cutoff?
let you vote today when there is a chance you could be convicted tomorrow?

# yeah let you vote cause you have not been convicted?

interesting

a reply to: TinySickTears

shall we release them from jail so they can go to their voter location? shall we bus them? when it comes to those local elections, should they vote for those in the locality of the jail, or for those in their home community?

originally posted by: dawnstar
a reply to: TinySickTears

shall we release them from jail so they can go to their voter location? shall we bus them? when it comes to those local elections, should they vote for those in the locality of the jail, or for those in their home community?

i dont have answers for any of that.

im still talking about the should they be allowed part of the conversation

originally posted by: TinySickTears

i mean we cant really have pre crime minority report # going in.

i dont know. just seems interesting and something i never even thought about.

Isn't that the life goal for many in law? To find that work around, that loophole, and as in this case to have the power in numbers to pick and choose the local Government?

Seems the same thing with the border...just pack a kid at the border and all is good...

originally posted by: TinySickTears


i dont have answers for any of that.

im still talking about the should they be allowed part of the conversation

State elections are different than federal...

voting rights are removed as punishment punishments are handed out at sentancing

it would be illegal to kill someone before even if the sentance was death and if jailed prior that time is taken off

seems pritty cut and dry to me legaly they have the right to vote ... just not the right to leave jail to do so

a reply to: TinySickTears

well, if I lived in an area that had a jail I'm not sure that I would want the inmates of that jail voting for my local elections unless they were local residents. I mean, once they are freed more than likely they are gonna fly away from where ever they came from, leaving us with the mess they helped create. I imagine they could register to vote for their home district and vote absentee.... but then that leads me to ask.... just how does one present a valid photo id voting absentee? does one send in a copy of their id along with the ballot??

a reply to: TinySickTears

I think that would be that whole innocent until proven guilty thing. Until they are convicted they are not felons.

a reply to: TinySickTears

It's odd that if you're a felon you lose your right to vote. Sure, I guess voting while imprisoned shouldn't be a thing but if you've served your sentence and are free again you should be allowed to vote. You're still a citizen who will, hopefully, pay taxes again one day.