Parolee Voting Rights
Restore voting rights to 50,000 parolees. Criminal disenfranchisement has racist history and may increase recidivism.
Prop 17 would allow California residents on state parole, currently about 50,000 people, to vote.
Criminal disenfranchisement has a racist history and is unsupported by the public. There is no evidence that it deters crime, and if anything, it may increase it, given the association between voting and reduced recidivism. Given parental turnout predicts children’s turnout, criminal disenfranchisement may be suppressing political participation across generations.
Granting parolees the franchise can address these ills. It will not the final step in increasing political participation: informing parolees of their new rights, joining Vermont and Maine in allowing prisoners to vote, making it easier for young people to vote, enabling non-citizens to serve on commissions, and many other reforms will help as well. But Prop 17 makes substantial progress toward a more inclusive democracy.