An early voting sign sits outside of the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council building at 321 Virginia St. W in Charleston, W.Va. on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (Leann Ray
| West Virginia Watch)
It’s just one week until Election Day, but many West Virginians are experiencing voter suppression.
Thousands of West Virginians sitting in jail right now are eligible to vote, but unless they are aware of that, it sounds like they won’t be able to.
Amelia Ferrell Knisely reported last week that nearly half of people who are incarcerated in West Virginia’s jails have not been convicted and are awaiting trial, making them eligible to vote. In the most recent report I can find, in April 2024 there were 2,616 incarcerated people who were awaiting trial.
Those who are incarcerated for misdemeanor crimes — about 228 people in April 2024 — are also eligible to vote, according to state law. Felons are not allowed to vote until they finish their jail sentence, parole and/or probation.
For example, if former President Donald Trump was registered to vote in West Virginia, he would not be eligible to vote since he has been convicted of 34 felonies and his sentencing has been delayed.
There are about 15,696 West Virginians who are ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction.
Amelia contacted the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to ask if there were any initiatives to educate the incarcerated on their rights to vote and to help them obtain absentee ballots, but all DCR spokesperson Andy Malinoski said in response is that inmates have access to the state’s policy on absentee voting.
It sounds like they have access to the policy only if they’re already aware of it and know to ask for it. Eli Baumwell, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, said that the jails,”aren’t very good at informing people that they have the right or making it accessible to get them absentee ballots.”
Many of these people sitting in West Virginia jails right now are still there because they couldn’t afford bail. And now they’re also being robbed of their right to vote.
The Marshall Project partnered with Columbia University to survey approximately 54,000 incarcerated people in about 400 prisons and jails in 45 states and Washington, D.C. The survey had 717 respondents from West Virginia, and only 8% — or about 57 of them — said they wouldn’t vote whether they could vote or not.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the biggest barrier to voting in jail is that local election officials often don’t know that most people in jail are eligible to vote, and it’s not uncommon for the officials to provide wrong information in response to questions about eligibility. Sometimes registration forms can also contain incorrect or incomplete information about criminal disenfranchisement laws, the ACLU found.
West Virginia allows incarcerated people to request absentee ballots, but with delays in jail mail it’s difficult to meet deadlines. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 30, leaving only six days to receive it, fill it out and mail it back.
Inmates may also be scared to vote because their mail is monitored. The Prison Policy Initiative points out that because most sheriffs are elected and will be on some ballots, there may be fear of retaliation.
Jail also causes barriers related to registering to vote. To vote in the general election, the registration deadline was Oct. 15. If someone gets out of jail between Oct. 16 and Nov. 5, they still can’t vote if they weren’t able to register while in jail.
Those sitting in jail aren’t the only ones who are struggling to vote.
Stateline reporter Robbie Sequiera reported on a law in Georgia that could make it harder for people who are homeless to vote. Georgia Senate Bill 189, signed into law in May, allows people to challenge a person’s voting eligibility if that person lives at a “nonresidential address,” which can include homeless shelters, nursing homes and college dorms, which all show up as “nonresidential” in local zoning laws.
West Virginia law allows citizens to use a P.O. box, local shelter, advocacy organization, outreach center or the home of someone who will accept mail for them — as long as a precinct can be assigned, they are eligible to vote.
However, there’s another hurdle — West Virginia’s voter ID law. To register to vote, a West Virginia driver’s license or ID must be presented. When voting, voters must provide a valid ID, meaning it can’t be expired.
Low income voters and people who are homeless are consistently one of the least represented groups when it comes to voter turnout, according to the National Coalition for Homelessness. Only 33% of eligible voters with an income below $20,000 voted in the 2022, midterm elections.
The coalition runs a You Don’t Need a Home to Vote campaign to educate people on their rights, and provides an online toolkit for those wanting to spread the word.
Voting is so important, and it should be made easier for everyone, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. Because of fear of voter fraud — which is very rare — everyone has to jump through hoops. Know your rights.
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