From Behind Bars, Pretrial Detainees Fight To Vote

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Law 360

In addition to pretrial inmates, Maine and Vermont allow all prisoners to vote, and some states only disenfranchise those convicted of certain crimes, according to Dana Paikowsky, an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Campaign Legal Center. "It is enormously difficult to vote if you're incarcerated," says Paikowsky, a fact that's evident from the number of people voting in jail, which she says "is incredibly small in a way that's really sad and disappointing." "That's not a problem of the people in jail not wanting to vote," Paikowsky says. "It's a problem of them not having access to the ballot."

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