More than 40,000 Missourians who were convicted of a felony and are now on probation or parole will be allowed to vote in the November election. House Bill 1871, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Mike Kehoe this year, restores voting rights to those on probation or parole for non-violent and non-sexual crimes.
Bob Libal is senior campaign strategist for The Sentencing Project. It’s a national nonprofit organization that advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic and gender justice. Specifically, he works on voting rights efforts.
"I think that if the courts and the criminal justice system believe that someone can live in our neighborhoods, pay taxes, own businesses, send their kids to school, participate in society, they should have a say in all of that, right?" he said. "They should have a say in our democracy, regardless of their criminal conviction."
Libal said when people have the right to vote, it has a widespread impact.
"Both having the right to vote and participating in the electoral system correlates with stronger public safety outcomes. You know, simply put, if you are someone who votes, that's a pro-social activity, you are less likely to reoffend and go back to prison. That's good for all of us, right?" he said. "Because it reduces crime and it reduces the sort of social cost of the criminal justice system. So, I think that this can be seen as both a win for individual people and their communities who want to participate in our democracy. And it can also be seen as a win for, you know, the broader society because voting correlates with better social outcomes, including reduced recidivism."
He said Missouri is one of 27 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded the right to vote for people with felony convictions since the late 1990s.
He’d like to see Missouri allow anyone convicted of a felony who’s out on probation or parole to cast a ballot.
Meanwhile, he said there are several organizations working hard in Missouri to make sure that people who have been given back their right to vote know that they can cast a ballot.