Pennsylvania updates guidance for incarcerated voters

As of September, a little more than 4,700 people were incarcerated within the Philadelphia County prison system.

Innes said “way more than half” of those people are eligible to vote.

“You put all that together… that’s a lot of folks,” Innes said. “And we know from the last two elections how close the ballot totals were and which way it went, so we want to make sure that these folks are counted, if possible.”

Some obstacles incarcerated voters could face don’t just come from their current legal status, but from the place they’re held and the outside world’s influence.

Philadelphia Justice Project founder and Villanova University professor Jill McCorkel said misinformation tends to spread to inmates about voting, considering how laws differ from state to state.

“People are sort of blasting information from other states to Pennsylvania saying if you’ve ever been convicted of a felony, you’re not allowed to vote, and that’s simply not true,” McCorkel said. “In Pennsylvania, if you are released from custody on a felony conviction, you can still vote. So even if you’re on parole, you’re paroled to a halfway house, you’re still eligible.”

Another roadblock could be issues and differences with inmate mailing systems, which make it difficult for inmates to get access to ballots.

“In a lot of jurisdictions, the mail has to go to another off-site processing center,” Innes said. “For example, in Pennsylvania, the off-site processing center is in Florida. When it goes to Florida, then they don’t get a copy of the letter, say from Mom or Dad, they get a Xerox copy of the letter. That doesn’t work with respect to election forms and registration of voting forms, so all that has to be worked out between the local election board and the jails.”