From The Crime Report:
Every election, thousands of eligible voters fail to turn out ballots because they reside in a jail cell, not convicted of a crime, simply because they can’t raise bail money.
The Supreme Court has upheld protections for presumed innocent pretrial detainees to access ballots and register to vote, but several obstacles restrict these individuals of that right, reports Stateline, a publication of Pew Charitable Trusts.
Advocates says the obstacles, which they call “de facto disenfranchisement,” affect the roughly 445,000 Americans in jail not convicted of crimes—many of whom cannot afford bail.
“That is creating a system where if you are rich enough, you can access your right to vote, because you’ll be able to get out of pretrial detention,” said Sylvia Albert of Common Cause, an advocacy group for voting rights. Continue reading >>>
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