We are less than a week away from election day 2020 and over 65 million American’s have already voted. However, that number of voters doesn’t include prison inmates — or at least it doesn’t include a large portion of incarcerated Americans.
There are only two states that allow prison inmates to register to vote. Those states are Maine and Vermont, along with the District of Columbia as of this year.
Under Maine and Vermont law, inmates can register to vote in the city or town where they previously lived.
With many inmates having access to news via radio, TV and in some instances, cellphones — there is a lot of interest in this years election among those who are incarcerated. With that said, should all inmates in the United States have the right to vote?
After doing some research, it would appear that law states no one has the right to take away someone’s right to vote — despite what they are incarcerated for. Yet, only two states appear to allow voting. With that said, there are certain jails and prisons that allow prisoners to vote, outside of Maine and Vermont. It is just an extremely rare occurrence.
What do you think? Should all inmates have the right to vote?