State Voting Rights Briefs
In 2024, four million Americans were banned from voting due to a felony conviction. The Sentencing Project is committed to expanding voting rights in every state and works with state partners to provide specific data on state felony disenfranchisement.
Click the links below to read our state voting rights briefs. If you are interested in working with The Sentencing Project to expand voting rights in your state, please contact Nicole D. Porter (nporter@sentencingproject.org).
California
California Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 97,000 Citizens
More than 97,000 California citizens cannot vote while serving a prison term for a felony conviction in any state, federal, or local facility – a result of California’s constitution.
Colorado
Colorado Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 18,700 Citizens
Voter exclusion falls heavily on people of color in Colorado who are more likely to be prohibited from voting because of the stark racial disparities in the state’s criminal legal system.
Florida
Florida Bans Voting Rights of Over 960,000 Citizens
Florida surpasses every state in the nation with the largest number of U.S. citizens who cannot vote due to a felony conviction.
Georgia
Georgia Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 249,000 Citizens
Georgia’s rate of voter exclusion exceeds the national average – 3.25% of the state’s voting age population versus 1.7% nationally
Kentucky
Kentucky Bars Over 158,300 Citizens from Voting
Despite a gubernatorial executive order in 2019 designed to ease the burden of lifetime disenfranchisement for Kentuckians with felony convictions, Kentucky still denies the right to vote to more people with a felony conviction than 40 other states.
Maryland
Why We Must Restore Voting Rights to Over 16,000 Marylanders
Maryland should strengthen its democracy and advance racial justice by re-enfranchising its entire voting eligible population.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 7,300 Citizens
Massachusetts should strengthen its democracy and advance racial justice by restoring the vote to its entire voting-age population.
Minnesota
Minnesota Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 55,000 Citizens
Minnesota denies the vote to more of its people with a felony conviction than most other states in the Upper Midwest.
New Mexico
New Mexico Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 5,300 Citizens
The law restricting voting by people with felony convictions undermines New Mexico’s democracy and extends the racial injustice embedded in the criminal legal system to its electoral system.
New York
New York Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 33,000 Citizens
New York should join Maine, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC in ensuring all of their citizens can participate in our democratic process.
Oregon
Oregon Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 13,400 Citizens
Oregon should safeguard democratic rights and not allow its racially disparate criminal legal system to restrict voting rights.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Should Restore Voting Rights to Over 41,000 Citizens
Black Pennsylvanians are excluded from voting at almost eight times the rate of non-Black Pennsylvanians. Latino Pennsylvanians are excluded at almost twice the rate of non-Latino Pennsylvanians.
Tennessee
Tennessee Denies Voting Rights to Over 470,000 Citizens
Tennessee denies almost 400,000 people the right to vote due to a felony-level conviction – the third largest disenfranchised population in the country, behind only Florida and Texas.
Texas
Texas Should Restore Voting Rights to Nearly Half a Million Citizens
Texas laws are particularly restrictive—prohibiting individuals from voting who are on felony probation, parole, or incarcerated for a felony-level conviction.
