Mothers in Prison
Position Statement on Offender Reentry
Creating Effective Offender Re-entry Programs
Community Corrections As A Safe Alternative to Incarceration
Needs of Incarcerated Mothers and Their Children
Opposition to the Death Penalty
Abolition of all Mandatory Drug Sentencing Laws in Delaware
Restoration of Voting Rights for Ex-Offenders
Delaware Center for Justice Advocates for Restoration of Voting Rights for Ex-Offenders
February 1, 1999
Delaware is one of only fourteen states in which ex-offenders who have fully served their sentences cannot vote and only one of ten states in which ex-offenders lose the right to vote for life.
This information is contained in a report recently completed by the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice research organization in Washington, D.C. The report reveals that nearly 4 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of felony convictions. The report also reveals that 13 percent of black adult male ex-offenders are disenfranchised, a rate seven times the national average. Delaware does not keep a record of the number of citizens who are disenfranchised but estimates indicate the number is approximately 20,000, or 3.7 percent of the population. Of that number, 8,700, or 20 percent, are African American males.
The Report concludes that disenfranchisement laws "have no legitimate purpose… Deprivation of the right to vote is not an inherent or necessary aspect of criminal punishment nor does it promote the reintegration of offenders into lawful society."
This last point is particularly important. Restoring the right to vote for a fair number of ex-offenders can serve as a powerful motivating force to leading a crime-free life. Ex-offenders cite the importance of adding civic redemption to personal and spiritual redemption once they have put their criminal convictions behind them.
The Delaware Center for Justice, through membership in the Coalition for the Restoration of Ex-Felon Voting Rights, supports House Bill 219. This bill offers an amendment to the state constitution so that certain categories of former felons may vote once they have completed all aspects of their sentences and remain crime-free for a period of five years. The bill passed the General Assembly in 1998, but the same bill must pass this session of the General Assembly in order for the constitution to be amended. Other members of the Coalition include the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, the state NAACP, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Prison Fellowship, the United Methodist Church, Common Cause, Ministry of Caring, United Auto Workers - Local 1183, ACLU - DE, Pacem in Terris, and the League of Women Voters.
Citizens support this legislation. This fall, the Coalition for the Restoration of Ex-Felon Voting Rights, through the efforts of Pacem in Terris, asked people their opinion on this issue at four community events in New Castle County in the fall of 1998. Of the 198 who responded, 144 (73 percent) approved, 41 disapproved, and 13 were undecided.
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