CLC Launches New Spanish Language Online Tool to Help Millions Understand Their Voting Rights

WASHINGTON – To commemorate National Voter Registration Day, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) launched RecupereSuVoto.org today, the Spanish language version of RestoreYourVote.org, an online toolkit for the 23 million citizens with past felony convictions to understand their options for exercising the right to vote. Mirroring the original Restore Your Vote website, RecupereSuVoto.org includes a roadmap for rights restoration in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Just this year, Nevada and Colorado have revised their laws to re-enfranchise individuals upon release from incarceration. These states demonstrate a national trend. As many as 18 million people with past convictions should be able to vote right now, if they only understood their rights.

Since felony disenfranchisement laws vary widely by state, many people remain unaware of their rights. States often fall short and fail to educate citizens with past convictions about their ability to vote after they have paid their debt to society, which can effectively extend their sentence.

The impact of felony disenfranchisement laws are felt disproportionately by people of color, preventing them from having their voices heard. Despite being only 16% of the U.S. adult population, Hispanic-Americans make up 23% of the U.S. prison population.

“Citizens who have paid their debt to society are entitled to participate in our democracy. We are launching this tool because voting should be accessible to all citizens no matter where they live, the color of their skin or the language they speak,” said Jonathan Diaz, legal counsel, voting rights at CLC. “State and federal policies should uniformly protect the right to vote and promote voter participation across the United States. Recent efforts by states to expand voting rights to those with past convictions have been a positive development. But often, even after the laws are changed, a lack of information can prevent voters from knowing their status and exercising their voting rights. We have created this tool to close that education gap for as many people as possible.”

Since its launch in August 2018, nearly 70,000 people have visited RestoreYourVote.org. Through the Restore Your Vote campaign’s grassroots outreach, CLC organizers targeted the states with the most complicated rights restoration laws in the country, directly assisting more than 5,000 people with past felony convictions restore their voting rights, and empowered thousands of community leaders to better assist their neighbors seeking to navigate rights restoration laws in their state.

Visit RecupereSuVoto.org to learn more.