Add your organization to a statewide community letter urging Governor Cuomo to restore the right to vote for approximately 41,000 New Yorkers currently on parole.

 

Our state's disenfranchisement laws have their roots in New York's own Jim Crow laws, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice last year. Four out of five New Yorkers on parole are Black or Latino, reflecting the extreme bias overall in the criminal justice system.

 

 

Please add your ORGANIZATION to the sign-on letter copied below and attached. This letter is identical to one being circulated by the NYS Black, Hispanic, Puerto Rican and Asian Caucus to their colleagues in the legislature. The letter for elected officials is being sponsored by Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson and Senator Eric Adams.

 

 

• Find your Assembly Member at http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?sh=search.
• Find your Senator at http://www.nysenate.gov/.
• Call and ask them to sign on to the letter being circulated by Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Hassell-Thompson and Senator Eric Adams. 

 

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The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo,

We, the undersigned, urge you to issue an executive order that would restore voting rights for New Yorkers who have completed their prison sentence and are currently on parole.  We are grateful you have prioritized reforming our criminal justice system in your administration and feel this policy change is well aligned with your vision for a more just New York.

About 41,000 New Yorkers on parole, nearly 80% of who are African American or Latino, are currently denied the right to vote in New York. Voting is a fundamental civic duty and should be an essential part of the re-entry process for someone returning to their community.  We strongly believe that people who are back in our communities, working and paying taxes, taking care of their families, and participating in religious and community activities should also be part of our civic life by helping choose our elected representatives.

There is a strong and bipartisan movement to expand voting rights for people with criminal records nationally.  Fourteen states and the District of Columbia currently allow people on parole to vote and nearly half of all U.S. states have enacted reforms to felony disenfranchisement laws since 1997, according to an analysis by the Sentencing Project.  New York should be on our progressive tradition by joining other states that have restored voting rights to people on parole.

The current policy of disenfranchising New Yorkers on parole disproportionately prevents people of color from voting.  According to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, New York's criminal disenfranchisement provisions were historically rooted in a concerted effort to exclude African Americans from participating in the political process.  Now is time to end this history of discrimination and restore the right to vote to New York citizens who are out of prison and living in our communities.

As Governor, you have a unique opportunity to reverse this injustice.  The New York Constitution gives the Governor unlimited and unreviewable clemency powers, including the power to grant a partial pardon restoring voting rights.  Individuals on parole currently have only one unlikely avenue for the restoration of their right to vote: a lengthy and cumbersome application to the Board of Parole. With an executive order, you could reaffirm your commitment to voting rights, racial equality, and criminal justice by restoring voting rights to the tens of thousands of New Yorkers on parole who are living and working in our communities.