Many residents may have missed the Los Angeles Country Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk September 24 press release that it was honored for its in-prison voting system for criminals.
Dean C. Logan, the County Clerk, announced that the National Association of Election Officials (Election Center) awarded the RR/CC with the 2024 Professional Practices Independence Award for Outstanding Service and Accessibility for its In-Person Voting in the Jails Program.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the National Association of Election Officials for our program that ensures eligible system-impacted individuals have the opportunity to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” Logan said. “Inclusivity and accessibility are foundational pillars guiding our mission and principles to enhance the voting experience for our voters and the Department in the administration of elections in Los Angeles County.”
Residents may have also missed that when Los Angeles County implemented its new voting model and system, Voting Solutions for All People, in 2020, voting access was expanded to include the “in-person voting experience in jails.”
“When Democracy includes everyone, it makes our communities safer, our policies stronger, and our people more engaged in California’s future,” said Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, who has advanced legislation to expand voting options for system-impacted individuals. “We are investing in our communities when we make sure every Californian who is eligible to vote has that opportunity.”
In the 2024 Presidential Primary election, in-person “voting experience was in all County jails for the first time.”
The in-person experience will be available to all eligible inmates again in all County jail facilities for the November 5 election.
Have the inmates been polled to see if they prefer George Gascon over law-and-order candidate Nathan Hochman? Do inmates think that Prop. 47 should remain in place because it would provide less penalties than the proposed Prop. 36?
(Editor’s note: If criminals are in jail for breaking the law, why should they be allowed to vote, until they can prove they are members of the community that can follow laws.)
Inmates in L.A. County can vote in jail.
According to the California Secretary of State:
Persons with a prior felony conviction who can register to vote:
- In local detention facility:
- serving a misdemeanor sentence (a misdemeanor never affects your right to vote)
- Because jail time is a condition of probation (misdemeanor or felony)
- Serving a felony jail sentence
- Awaiting trial
- On parole
- On probation
- On mandatory supervision
- On post-release community supervision
- On federal supervised release
- A person with a juvenile wardship adjudication
Persons with a current felony conviction who cannot register and vote:
Currently serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony in:
- State prison
- Federal prison
- A local detention facility*
*California Penal Code section 2910 allows the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to make agreements with local governments to house felons in local detention facilities. A person serving a state prison sentence who is housed in a local detention facility under these circumstances is not allowed to register and vote. Additionally, a person in a local detention facility who is awaiting transfer to a state or federal prison following a felony conviction is not allowed to register and vote.