{"id":27973,"date":"2020-09-15T13:46:22","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T20:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=27973"},"modified":"2020-09-15T13:46:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T20:46:22","slug":"restoring-the-right-to-vote-for-formerly-incarcerated-individuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=27973","title":{"rendered":"Restoring the Right to Vote for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles County –\u00a0With the November 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0election quickly approaching, ensuring the right to vote for Americans is of utmost concern. Recognizing the burden felony disenfranchisement places on communities, particularly on African Americans and communities of color, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas authored a motion with Supervisor Janice Hahn to take an official position in support of Proposition 17, the \u201cVoting Rights Restoration for Persons on Parole Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

This\u00a0motion<\/a>, approved in a 4-1 vote, calls for granting voting rights to parolees in California who are United States citizens and calls for recognizing September 22, 2020 as National Voter Registration Day throughout Los Angeles County. This will enable the Free the Vote Task Force initiative to encourage the County\u2019s residents to register to vote and promote civic engagement widely across the County. Under Proposition 17, the voting rights to upwards of 50,000 California parolees who are working, paying taxes, and earnestly contributing to the overall welfare of their communities will be restored.<\/p>\n

The introduction of this motion follows efforts led by Supervisor Ridley-Thomas over the past few years to expand voter and civic engagement as well as establish a voter engagement task force, oriented toward justice-involved populations. Research has shown that increasing civic empowerment among justice-involved populations reduces recidivism, in turn further empowering these individuals, their families, and their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMass incarceration has devastated many communities, in particular communities of color. Taking away the fundamental right to vote is one example of how mass incarceration is designed to perpetuate racial inequities. Restoring parolees voting rights will give them not only a chance at redemption but also add their valued voice back to our communities,\u201d said Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia.<\/p>\n

In 2018, a motion authored by Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and co-authored Supervisor Sheila Kuehl established the LA Free the Vote Task Force and a civic engagement plan for justice-involved voters. As a result, the LA Free the Vote Task Force launched a campaign to register 1,000 justice-involved individuals by this upcoming November election.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the Board of Supervisors also approved a motion by Supervisors Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl that supported the ACA 6 \u201cFree the Vote Act\u201d legislation, which initially placed Proposition 17 on the ballot. A New Way of Life Reentry Project\u2019s Founder and President Susan Burton has since been a leading advocate for the amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cA New Way of Life has housed thousands of women recently released from California prisons over the last two decades. They obey all laws, work, and pay taxes\u2014but cannot vote,\u201d said Burton. \u201cWe applaud Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and the motion to support Proposition 17. Voting demonstrates positive citizenship. We want all residents of California to vote in this important election and elections to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we prepare to celebrate September 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0as National Voter Registration Day, it is my hope that in the near future who we define as a voter will include the 50,000 parolees who are legally barred from voting,\u201d said Supervisor Ridley-Thomas.<\/p>\n

This recent motion is another effort to ensure voter rights and engagement as time until the election is quickly running out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles County –\u00a0With the November...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27974,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27973\/revisions\/27974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}