Voting Access For Rikers Island Detainees Pushed By NYC Lawmakers

NEW YORK, NY — City lawmakers advanced legislation aimed at expanding voting access for people detained on Rikers Island.

621 detainees of roughly 6,000 eligible detainees requested absentee ballots, according to the Board of Elections.

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Of those 621 ballots, only 335 were counted in the last general election.

“Voting is our most basic right,” Councilmember Gale Brewer, chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, said. “But on Rikers Island very few people appear able to exercise that right.”

Lawmakers’ proposals would make it easier for people in custody to request absentee ballots, receive information about candidates and correct errors that could invalidate votes.

The legislation would also require the Department of Correction to publicly report how many ballots are requested, submitted, corrected and rejected.

Advocates and councilmembers also pressed for broader structural changes, including the establishment of polling sites inside the Rikers Island jail complex.

At the hearing, officials from the Board of Elections said that creating polling places inside jails would require changes to state law.

“The board is not permitted to depart from statutory authority or substitute its independent judgment for the law,” said Michael Ryan, the agency’s executive director.

Ryan said about 54 percent of ballots requested by detainees were returned in the 2025 general election, compared with roughly 73 percent citywide. He noted that ballot drop-off is common across all voters, though the gap is wider in correctional facilities.

"I will say that the return rate has spiked somewhat after the state legislature passed the early mail ballot legislation because you no longer had to have an absolute excuse for not voting," Ryan said. "You can apply for an early mail ballot, and there seems to be new people coming into that process."

Council members and advocates said the process itself is a barrier, relying on mail and internal jail distribution systems that can delay or interrupt ballot delivery.

Testimony described a “hand-to-hand” distribution process between the Board of Elections and Department of Correction, which officials said can take anywhere from the same day to a week depending on logistics.

Officials also acknowledged that tablet access inside facilities, used to provide voting information, is not universal.

Department of Correction staff said roughly 80% to 90% of eligible people in custody have access to tablets, though devices can be lost or damaged.

Lawmakers raised concerns that gaps in access contribute to low participation rates. Advocates noted that most people on Rikers are pretrial detainees who retain voting rights, but may not be aware of their eligibility or how to navigate the absentee process.

The four-hour hearing took place as lawmakers also referenced national debates over mail voting and election access ahead of upcoming federal elections.