Illinois Lawmakers Push Legislation Allowing Prisoners to Vote

A fence surrounds the Cook County jail complex in Chicago, Illinois, on April 09, 2020. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Lawmakers in Illinois are advancing a bill that seeks to provide incarcerated individuals voting rights in the state.

The measure, Senate Bill 828, is being sponsored by State Senator Mike Simmons (D-Ill.) and seeks to overturn the current state law, which prohibits individuals serving a sentence in a state or federal prison, county jail, or on work release, from voting. In the 2022 midterms, roughly 27,300 incarcerated individuals in the state were not eligible to vote.

Speaking to The Center Square, State Rep. LaShawn Ford, (D-Ill.) said that he supports the measure and wants Illinois to join states like Vermont and Maine, which give felons the right to vote.

In a Nov. 10 statement, voting reform group Stand Up America claimed that disenfranchisement of prisoners hurts Illinois citizens on “both sides of the prison gate,” adding that almost 60 percent of women in Illinois prisons are mothers.

“95% of people in state prisons return home,“ the group said. ”Restoring the freedom to vote for incarcerated Illinoisans would allow them to advocate for their children and families, stay involved in their communities, and successfully re-integrate once they’ve completed their sentence.”

State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Ill.) believes Senate Bill 828 was introduced for all the wrong reasons. “A voter block such as this raises some questions about the unintended consequences of this piece of legislation,” Niemerg told The Center Square.

“Perhaps, they are the intended consequences of this being a Democratic voter drive, so to speak,” he added.

Voting Laws

In 22 American states, voting rights for felons are restored after prison. In one state, voting rights are restored after prison and parole. In 16 states, restoration occurs after prison, parole, and probation.

In 9 states, felons may lose voting rights permanently. In two states and the District of Columbia, felons can continue to vote from prison.

In North Carolina, over 55,000 individuals with prior convictions were granted the right to vote regardless of parole or probation status this year. A lawsuit is still being fought over the issue, with the Supreme Court of North Carolina set to hear the case next year.

In February, a GOP-led House of Delegates commission blocked a pending constitutional amendment that would have automatically restored voting rights to felons in Virginia once they regained freedom.

To support Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg raised over $16 million to pay the court fines and fees of almost 32,000 Hispanic and black Florida voters who had felony convictions.