Some prisoners in Pennsylvania can vote- but very few counties have a process to help them access that legal right.<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus rallied on Wednesday about voting rights, with inmate or formerly incarcerated voters a main focus of legislative goals.<\/p>\n
A newer priority, the caucus wants to mandate clear systems for prisoners to vote while in county institutions. Pennsylvania\u2019s State Departments released guidance counties could follow in 2024. Speakers said eight out of 67 counties have implemented those rules, and that a state mandate would close access gaps.<\/p>\n
A second prison reform bill codifies a state supreme court ruling from 26 years ago; justicess said felons who leave prison can vote right away as opposed to waiting five years like a previous law required.<\/p>\n
Voting advocacy group \u201cNew pennsylvania project\u201d says codifying the ruling could give clarity to the legal precedent. Kadida Kenner, CEO of the organization, shared a story of being in Erie in 2024 and fighting misinformation that a formerly incarcerated man\u2013 Gustavo\u2013 had believed.<\/p>\n
\u201cGustavo said to us, \u2018you know, I really wanted to vote in this election.. I\u2019ve been told I can\u2019t vote\u2019,\u201d Kenner said. \u201cAnd we showed him the voter information guide, and we showed him from the department of state that he is eligible to be registered to vote\u2013 because he had been lied to for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caucus lawmakers also want broader election reform, like same day voter registration and pre canvassing policies. Their priorities often focus on streamlining or expanding options for how people vote.<\/p>\n
Lastly, lawmakers spoke on worries about redistricting, how laxer federal protection can dilute the representation of minority communities.<\/p>\n
The event was a few days before Juneteenth. A visiting state representative from Tennessee called for citizens to get involved, in part to honor past sacrifices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have inherited was not given to us. And the liberties and blessings we do enjoy\u2013 the black speaker of this house, us in the positions that we are in\u2013 is not because people just prayed,\u201d said Rep. Justin Pearson, a Democrat for the city of Memphis. \u201cIt is because they moved their feet on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus has 39 members this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some prisoners in Pennsylvania can vote- but very few counties have a process to help them access that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2288,37,28,5929,30,29],"class_list":["post-222419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bureau","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-capitol","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}