OLYMPIA – Currently, people in Washington state prisons have their right to vote taken away as part of their punishment. While people’s voting rights are automatically restored upon release, a bill sponsored by State Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, dubbed the ‘Free The Vote Act,’ would shield their voting rights from the outset.
“This is the right thing to do,” said Simmons. “We need to make people feel like they are a part of the community so that they have a stake in it when they come out, and don’t want to terrorize it anymore but want to be contributing members of our community instead.”
In Washington, only people convicted of an “infamous crime” have their right to vote taken away, however there is no definition of an “infamous crime.” House Bill 1196 would define an “infamous crime” as a crime punishable by death. This would ensure many people convicted of crimes retain their right to vote and maintain a critical connection to their communities that supports their rehabilitation.
Vermont, Maine, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico all allow people in prison to vote.
This bill would have a significant impact on Native communities who are overrepresented in the incarcerated population and therefore disproportionality impacted by disenfranchisement. Nationwide, Native Americans are incarcerated in state and federal prisons at four times the rate of white people.
“I come from a small community where every vote must count,” said Charles Longshore, a member of the Skokomish Tribe currently incarcerated at a state prison near Olympia, during a public hearing on the bill. “Restoring the right to vote would help our tribal communities in our district address the needs of our people. It is a rehabilitative model to restore the right to vote so people can find hope, self-worth, and contribute to their community in a healthy way.”
HB 1196 has passed out of committee and is awaiting a vote on the House Floor.