Oregon state Democrats have moved on a bill that allow people who are incarcerated in the state to vote.
If enacted, the bill would make the state the third in the nation to allow people to cast ballots while in prison or jail. Criminal justice experts estimate that approximately 12,000 people in Oregon would see their voting rights restored.
The invoice, SB 579, would allow anyone “in the physical custody of a jail, prison, or correctional facility” in Oregon to register to vote, update a voter registration, and vote. Under the bill, the person would be allowed to vote in elections using the address and county in which he last resided before being incarcerated.
Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and Washington, DC allow people to vote while incarcerated.
As it stands, Oregon is among 22 states where people lose their voting rights while incarcerated, but those rights are automatically restored upon release. In 15 other states, people lose their right to vote while incarcerated, but get it back after a specified period of time after release. In the remaining 11 states, people lose their right to vote indefinitely for some crimes or must complete additional actions and tasks before entitlement is restored, according to state law reviews by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Supporters have praised the proposed legislation, saying it restores a fundamental civil right.
“Voting is such an integral component of the way we have built democracy,” Democratic state Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, a lead sponsor of the bill, said in an interview. “People vote when they’re in nursing homes, when they’re in hospitals, people have the right to vote when they’re receiving treatment for drug and alcohol abuse or mental health issues. We do not condition the right to vote. Once we start making exceptions to that, where do you stop?
Detractors, however, have criticized it for failing to feature exclusions for offenders convicted of certain violent crimes.
«Whether it’s first degree murder, second degree, criminally negligent homicide, first and second degree assault, rape, human trafficking, all these categories of felony convicts, we’re pretending they’re going to be good citizens who will be able to exercise their right to the vote,» said Republican state Sen. Dennis Linthicum during a committee meeting audience this month on the bill. He also expressed concern that inmates would implement a «new system of corruption within the prison system where votes can be bought and sold» for commissary items like cigarettes.
Other Oregon Republicans have torn the bill as «extreme» and «egregious» because it would allow «murderers and rapists» to vote.
Supporters like Gelser Blouin, however, point to investigation showing that formerly incarcerated people who are better able to maintain family and community relationships and reintegrate into society see much lower recidivism rates.
“I don’t think the lack of votes is an impediment to crime. I think that [voting] it keeps people involved in the community and helps people get more involved in moving the community forward,” he said. «I don’t see a link between his ballot and his prison sentence.»
Democrats enjoy large majorities in both houses of the Oregon legislature and are in control of the governorship, suggesting the bill is likely to pass during the current session. The bill passed committee earlier this month and lawmakers said it is likely to come to a full-house vote in both the state Senate and House during the final week of session, in late June. (a part of the session that is reserved for measures, like this one, that have fiscal provisions).
A spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, declined to answer questions from NBC News about whether she would sign the bill if it passed in its current form, saying the office does not comment on pending legislation.