The Colorado legislature on Friday adopted a first-in-the-nation reform last week to fix this. Senate Bill 72, which now awaits the signature of Governor Jared Polis to become law, would give people held in local jails a lot more opportunities to obtain and cast a ballot.
It would require that sheriffs establish polling stations within local jails across Colorado each general election to operate for at least one six-hour period. It would also require every jail to designate a ballot drop-off location, for those who want to vote by mail.
Colorado would be the first state to enact a mandate of this sort. Nevada, Massachusetts, and Washington state have recently passed initiatives meant to make jail voting easier, but none feature the central requirement of Colorado’s: turning local jails into in-person polling places.
“It’s really a gold standard for what all states can aspire to,” Carmen López, an expert on jail voting for The Sentencing Project, a national research and advocacy organization, told Bolts. “Folks in Colorado who are in jails will have the voting experience that the rest of society in Colorado has. I think that’s really important.”
Most criminals are in jail because they acted against social and moral norms, at times even doing physical harm to fellow citizens.
They do not deserve the right to express their opinion by voting. They already showed us how they feel about the rest of us
@Unanim0usMuesliSocialist7mos7MO
Most people are in jail for drug offenses. Not a fan of drugs myself, but it’s literally half of the prison population. Hurting themselves, mostly.
@Freedom767mos7MO
People who have to be locked in cages because they're addicted to poison are OBVIOUSLY not mature or responsible enough to select the leader of the free world. No sane person would disagree. I'm going to ask you to wake up.
This is ridiculous. People act against social and moral norms every day, they are not imprisoned, but are still allowed to vote. Many horrible people are walking around free because they either haven't been caught or their offensives didn't rise to the level of an outright crime. What about the falsely convicted? Should their rights be denied because we have a flawed judicial system?
Who are you to decide who is moral enough to choose our leaders?
@Freedom767mos7MO
Voting is a privilege, not a right. I explain in my initial comment above.
@KnowledgeLardSocialist7mos7MO
No one should ever lose his or her right to vote. The government should never be allowed to take away your liberty and also take away your right to the representation that allows you to challenge the laws that permit the taking of your liberty.
No one should bludgeon another person to death, either. Apparently vicious murders don't bother you, but they do bother me, and lack of respect or empathy for VICTIMS and their families bothers me, too.
@Freedom767mos7MO
Yeah – like that white elderly lady in New York who a random black guy slugged in the face, breaking her jaw and permanently ruining her face. No one talked about that, they just released that scumbag back on the street. Imagine if it was a white guy who punched a black elderly lady.
@Freedom767mos7MO
Before you get all worked up about the "rights" and "liberty" of serial killers, rapists, drug dealers, and thieves, maybe you should consider the plight of the unborn children you think should be torn limb-from-limb in the womb. What about their "rights" and their "liberty"? Why do you value the most vicious scumbags in our society – who are so evil they have to be locked in a cage to stop them from hurting, murdering, and stealing from people, or from ingesting poison – over innocent children who never did a thing wrong? Seriously, this is darkest, most ironic thing I've seen in my life. I would be laughing uncontrollably if it didn't have such horrible implications.
@BearBrooklynUnity7mos7MO
I have a cousin who is a convicted rapist. He has always been (and at 47 years old) will probably always be a terrible person. Period. Should he be allowed to vote if the vote has to do with rape sentencing or other crimes in any way? I can tell you right now if he can vote to "screw the system" it is exactly what he will do. He is, as my grandmother used to say, "Just a bad egg."
@CowCarolineDemocrat7mos7MO
If a majority want to "screw the system", isn't that what a democracy should do?
@HumbleUnanimousMountain7mos7MO
Are they seriously saying there's no reason why serial killers shouldn't be allowed to vote?
A) yes. Bundy almost certainly voted before he was caught. The Republic did not fall.
B) do you have any idea how few serial killers there are in prison?
C) presumably, if you’ve murder multiple people, you aren’t getting out of jail and serving your parole. So temporary disenfranchisement wouldn’t apply.
@Freedom767mos7MO
No one has a right to vote, especially criminals. Voting is a privilege, and only mature, responsible, financially independent, educated, and productive US citizens 25 years of age or older, and not on Welfare, food stamps, or any other government program, deserve to vote. The only reason we view voting as such an essential right is because we feel the need to exert our influence over those with political power to advance our agenda and foil the schemes of the opposite party. The thought has never struck us that perhaps it is political power in the first place that is the problem – and that by relegating government to a minimal role, the issue of voting loses most of its importance.
@ISIDEWITH7mos7MO
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