Advocates Testify in Favor of Felony Voting Rights Restoration Before Joint Committee on Election Laws

[BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS] — Yesterday, incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and voting rights advocates testified in front of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Election Laws in support of a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to all people in Massachusetts. This hearing was the first step for S.7 and H.63, introduced by Senator Liz Miranda of Boston and Representative Erika Uyterhoeven of Somerville, which would end felony voting bans in the state, ensuring that all incarcerated citizens can fully participate in the political process.

In the last legislative session, the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition (DBBC) helped set a new precedent for inclusion of incarcerated people through the political process. In an April 2023 hearing on similar amendments, incarcerated people were able to testify live via video for the first time, opening new doors for further remote participation, including at the most recent Election Laws hearing. “I strongly believe that if lawmakers are truly serious about protecting us in a meaningful way, they must fully include us in the democratic process,” said Al-Ameen Patterson, an incarcerated organizer with the DBBC and African American Coalition Committee (AACC), based in MCI-Norfolk. Other incarcerated advocates who could not join yesterday’s hearing stressed the personal impact of political exclusion in written testimony.

Up until 2000, incarcerated individuals maintained the right to vote in the Bay State, making Massachusetts the most recent state to have removed voting rights from incarcerated people. Yesterday, supporters made the case that it is time to move in the other direction, joining Maine, Vermont,  Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. in not conditioning voting rights on incarceration status. “We like to view the history of voting rights in this country as one of eliminating the different sources of disenfranchisement,” Jonathan Cohn, Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts, said in his testimony, “it’s a blight on the history for the commonwealth and country as whole that Massachusetts makes a marker in the opposite direction.” He also emphasized that the United States’ disenfranchisement remains an outlier internationally.

Testimony was overwhelmingly positive for the amendments. Supporters stressed that disenfranchisement serves no public benefit, and only exacerbates the intensely racialized negative consequences of incarceration. Nicole D. Porter, Senior Director of Advocacy at The Sentencing Project emphasized the community safety benefits of re-enfranchisement: voting is a prosocial behavior behind bars that can help reduce recidivism.

Twelve currently incarcerated individuals across three facilities shared their perspectives remotely for the Committee. “We the incarcerated are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and have elderly parents out there. The laws not only affect the people on the inside, but they affect our loved ones on the outside. We the incarcerated witness issues that many are not aware of,” shared Patricia Olsen from MCI-Framingham.

“There are legislators on all levels that file and enact legislation that immensely impacts me during and after my incarceration. This can have a profound impact on my ability to seek housing, employment, and to rebuild ties with my community,” said Maurice Skillman, a member of the DBBC and AACC, who is currently incarcerated at MCI-Norfolk. “If I can vote while incarcerated, I would feel like I belong to my community.”

Many others, including several formerly incarcerated individuals, also spoke about the positive impact of political participation. Hamza Berrios, a civic engagement advocate with the DBBC, voted for the first time in the November 2024 election after spending over 15 years incarcerated, highlighting that he felt that his voice was finally heard. “It made me feel empowered,” shared another individual who had the opportunity to cast absentee ballots behind bars while incarcerated prior to the 2000 amendment. “It probably was one of the only ways that made me feel part of society.”

“We believe in Massachusetts leading the nation and I believe that this issue, along with many, are some of the biggest moral questions of our time,” said Rep. Uyterhoeven. “I believe that now is not only the right time, but is the strategic time, to stand up with moral clarity in support of the right to vote.” Last legislative session, the amendments advanced out of the Election Laws Committee so supporters of S.7 and H.63 are confident that the amendments will advance once again. Advocates urge lawmakers to continue to support the legislation as it moves forward.

Full coalition testimony can be viewed here and a recording of the hearing can be found here.

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The DBBC is a coalition of advocacy and community organizations, direct service and religious groups, and individuals committed to ensuring that democracy does not stop at prisons and jails in Massachusetts.