Voting rights concerns in Montco jail facility

In following our mission to advocate for voting rights, the Pottstown NAACP is calling on Montgomery County officials to protect the voting rights of people incarcerated in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

According to All Voting Is Local, a voting-rights initiative of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in partnership with the good-government groups Common Cause Pennsylvania and Committee of Seventy, Montgomery County’s prison policies with regard to voting rights are vague, with little guidance for whether and how inmates may vote. This lack of clarity hinders voting and potentially violates individual voting rights under Pennsylvania law.

Unless a person is serving time for a felony conviction or a voting-related offense, they do not lose their right to vote. Anyone serving a sentence for a misdemeanor or is in jail on pre-trial detention is eligible to vote via absentee ballot.

We understand that Montgomery County Correctional Facility makes available upon request absentee ballot applications. Prospective voters can return completed ballots via his or her caseworker at Montgomery County Correctional Facility who, in turn, will forward the application to the county.

This process may not be enough. Inmates may not be properly informed of their voting rights or the procedure for voting while incarcerated.

We have written to Montgomery County Board of Elections head Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. about this issue. He has acknowledged receiving the letter but has not acted.

We urge Montgomery County to adopt specific policies and issue a voting rights handbook to incarcerated individuals to help ensure they can exercise their right to vote.