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Please email or call your State Senator and Representative today and ask them to vote YES on H.26/S.8, a proposal for a Constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to citizens incarcerated on felony convictions.
The legislature will meet on or before its Wednesday, May 10, deadline for a joint Constitutional Convention session to vote on proposed Constitutional amendments. Please contact your legislators before that session! Find their contact information here. Suggested request: “Please vote YES on H.26/S.8 to restore voting rights to incarcerated citizens during the upcoming Constitutional Convention joint session. The League of Women Voters believes all citizens have the right to vote. Thank you.”
The Joint Committee on Election Laws favorably reported H.26/S.8, Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to voting rights, out of committee, the first step in the lengthy Constitutional amendment process. The next step is this vote in a Constitutional Convention session.
This proposal would restore the right to vote to people incarcerated for felony convictions. Incarcerated people had the right to vote in Massachusetts for most of its history. That right was revoked by a 2000 ballot question amending the Constitution, a ballot question opposed by the League. That change most severely impacted people of color and their communities.
Here is our testimony to the Joint Committee on Election Laws, spelling out why the League supports this proposal:
The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts urges the Joint Committee on Election Laws to favorably report H.26/S.8, Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to voting rights and begin the process of restoring the right to vote to people incarcerated for felony convictions.
The core principle of the League of Women Voters is “voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed.” We don’t accept exceptions to that right. And for most of its history, Massachusetts agreed that people incarcerated for felonies continued to have the right to vote. Only when the establishment felt threatened by the civic actions of some in prison did those in power decide to put the voting rights of incarcerated felons to a popular vote with a ballot question in 2000. The League opposed that ballot question. We oppose using a majority vote and opinion polls to decide whether a defined minority has the right to vote. We strongly support H.26/S.8, to amend the state Constitution to restore the right to vote that was revoked in 2000.
Those incarcerated for felonies are paying the price for their crimes with their imprisonment. Most will be released when they complete their sentence. Permitting them to retain the right to vote while incarcerated is, first, the right thing to do; they are still citizens. But that right can also help connect them to their communities and to society at large and increase the chances of a successful rehabilitation. Restoring the vote to those incarcerated will restore their votes to their communities and increase the voice of those communities in decision-making.
The League does acknowledge the leadership Massachusetts has shown in granting the right of those with felony convictions to vote immediately upon completion of their sentence. We applaud your work in last session’s VOTES Act to assure that those incarcerated on misdemeanor convictions or awaiting trial have ready access to voting since people do not lose their right to vote under those conditions. Restoring the right to vote to those incarcerated on
felony convictions completes this acknowledgement of the right of all citizens to vote.
The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and our 44 local Leagues serving over 100 communities from Cape Cod to the Berkshires urge you to report H.26/S.8 favorably and to begin the lengthy process to amend our Constitution and undo an amendment that removed the right of those incarcerated for felonies to vote.
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