Reduce Recidivism

How many times have you heard the phrase "reduce recidivism"? For me, I hear it a lot - every time I'm talking about a bill that has something to do with our criminal justice system, someone talks about reducing recidivism. We all want offenders to be rehabilitated, re-entering society after incarceration ready make productive and good choices. 

One of the ways that's been proven to help formerly incarcerated individuals from re-offending is to allow them to maintain their voting rights. Voting keeps someone connected to their community, involved in decisions that impact where they will someday again live and work. 

Right now in Maine, there's a bill being debated that would change our state's constitution, taking away voting rights from people who have been convicted of a Class A crime who are incarcerated. We're strongly opposed to this bill because we do not believe that incarcerated individuals, regardless of the crime they have committed, should lose their right to vote. They are already serving a sentence and losing the right to vote will only add another punishment that is unlikely to deter crime from occurring. 

We are opposed to stripping voting rights away from any citizen - regardless of their criminal record or if they are currently serving a sentence. We're proud to stand behind our state's long history of progressive voting laws and will continue to do so. 

Care about voting? Call your legislator today regarding LD 573, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Restrict the Voting Privileges of Persons Incarcerated for Murder or Class A Crimes. Tell them to oppose the bill and oppose changing the constitution to take away voting rights.