Denver Allows Inmates To Vote In Person For The First Time

From the Colorado Newsline:

By Faith Miller
November 3, 2020

For the first time, people in jail at the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center and Denver County Jail could vote in person this election season.

“I feel great,” said Isaiah Rodriguez, 19, who took advantage of the new program to vote in his first election. “I feel awesome. … It took time, but I’m glad that I put in my vote.”

As part of the Confined Voting Program — a partnership between the Denver Sheriff Department, Denver Elections Division, Denver League of Women Voters and Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition — temporary polling centers allowed inmates to cast ballots at the two jails.

In-person voting equipment was set up at the Denver County Jail only on Nov. 2 and Denver’s Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center on Nov. 3, but volunteers conducted voter registration drives multiple times this year at the jail to make sure inmates were prepared and educated about their ability to vote.

Denver is one of only a handful of counties in the country to allow in-person voting in jails. Others include Cook County, Illinois; Los Angeles County; and the District of Columbia, according to The Sentencing Project.

“It’s a historic moment for us and a time of transformation in criminal justice, and we’re proud to lead the way in instilling justice in all that we do,” Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins said during voting on Nov. 3.

“One of the biggest things that we’re trying to do in public safety is putting our money where our mouth is,” agreed Murphy Robinson, executive director of Denver’s Department of Public Safety. Juston Cooper, deputy director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, has been a key advocate for the Confined Voting Program, Robinson said.

Cooper explained that the secretary of state’s office recently implemented a rule requiring counties to create a plan for ensuring people in jail who are eligible to vote have the ability to do so. Access to in-person voting in Colorado jails varies, however. Denver’s program is intended as a blueprint for other jurisdictions in the state.

Not everyone in jail is eligible — people serving felony sentences, for example, cannot vote in elections until their sentence is complete.

But for the most part, the biggest barrier to voting is that people in jail “don’t know their rights,” said Carrie Stanley, director of inmate programs for the Denver Sheriff Department.

“We always have posters, large posters, up in the housing units about their voting right eligibility, and then we have the volunteers come in and talk with them,” Stanley said. “It’s really about making this part of the fabric of your programs and not just a once-a-year event.”

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