Restore Parolees' Voting Rights After Coronavirus Risk: Lawmakers

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — The new coronavirus has burned through the cramped, literally-confined spaces in New York's prisons, infecting hundreds of inmates, if not more.

It's only fair then to restore inmates' voice in our collective future after they face such conditions and pay their debt to society, argued state senators Zellnor Myrie and Leroy Comrie in a recent op-ed.

Myrie and Comrie are among the backers of a bill that would restore voting rights to parolees.

"This legislation would make rights restoration automatic upon release from prison and provide those released an opportunity to register to vote right away," they wrote in the Gotham Gazette op-ed.

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New York is one of 20 states, plus Washington D.C., that deny felony parolees the right to vote, the op-ed states. A recent change effectively gives most such parolees in the state a chance to vote under the governor's pardon power, but that could change after Gov. Andrew Cuomo leaves office, it states.

The process is also complicated, requiring constant monitoring by governor's staff and state prisons, the op-ed states. Better to automatically restore voting rights and reverse what is a long-standing discriminatory practice, the state senators argued.

"It would set thousands of New Yorkers immediately on the path to reengaging in a positive way in their communities, something that has only become more important in the age of COVID-19," they wrote.

Prisoners who cannot socially distance in cramped quarters are among the most vulnerable to coronavirus, the op-ed states. At least 462 inmates in the state have tested positive for the new coronavirus, in addition to 1,204 prison staff, it states.

Myrie represents a swath of central Brooklyn, including Crown Heights, in the state Senate. Comrie hails from Queens.

State Senate Bill 1931 is currently in committee and can be read here.

Read the Gotham Gazette op-ed in full here.

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