Voting from Jail: Most can, few do.

By Rachel Polansky

Click here for updates on this story

    ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — In a race where a few hundred votes can make a difference, the majority of the 39,000 people held in Georgia county jails can vote, but as Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered, few do.

A lot of people in county jails never lost their right to vote because they’re not felons. They’re typically awaiting trial or serving misdemeanor sentences.

Still, voting from jail is rare. In Gwinnett County, only 16 out of 2,000 inmates voted this year, that’s less than one percent.

In the Fulton County Jail, 177 inmates registered to vote. That’s roughly six-and-a-half-percent of the jail’s 2,700 inmates.

At the Rockdale County Jail, zero inmates requested a ballot this year.

It’s something that most of us take for granted – but not Robert Schenck. Casting an absentee ballot was his first semblance of normalcy in months.

“It was a really good feeling,” Schenck said.

Schenck was sent to the Gwinnett County Jail four months ago, for violating probation related to a drug charge.

“You get told when to eat, told when to sleep, but now you get to say something about who wants to be in office, it actually feels good to do that,” he explained.

“Did you know that you’d be able to vote [in jail]?” Atlanta News First Investigator Rachel Polansky asked Schenck.

“I had no idea. I thought that was one of the rights that was taken from us,” Schenck responded.

Schenck didn’t think voting from jail was possible until he saw a message on a kiosk in his Gwinnett housing unit.

“I saw a note flash across the screen that said register to vote, and I asked a deputy for more information, and they provided all the information I needed to vote,” Schenck said.

“And, why is voting something that’s important to you?” Polansky asked.

“Because it has an immediate impact on me and my family and our environment around us,” Schenck said.

Unless an inmate is currently serving a sentence for a felony conviction, he or she can vote in Georgia.

Helen Butler, who heads the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, said a lot of inmates don’t know that.

That’s why her nonprofit works directly with Sheriff’s Offices – like Gwinnett and Fulton — to go inside jails and educate inmates about voting.

“We’ll schedule with the jail when we can go in and what days. We bring in nothing but the voter registrations forms and ink pens. They take us to part of the facility we’re allowed to have a table. People come in; they register. We collect those forms. We get an authorization from them to take the forms to the Board of Elections,” Butler said. “Once they’re registered and they’re on the rolls, and an election is coming up, if they haven’t been convicted of a felony, we go back into the jail. They have the forms for absentee voting. They fill them out. Then, the Sheriff’s Office collects those because they are the caregivers for those people, and they are allowed to take those forms and turn them in for them.”

“Voting is a sacred privilege for everybody in the United States including our inmate population here in Gwinnett County,” C.J. Releford, an officer for Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, added. “We’re here to give our inmates as much information as possible.”

Because jails are under local control, outreach efforts vary county by county. And there’s little consistency or oversight of voting.

The Prison Policy Initiative calls it “de facto disenfranchisement” and they say it stems from numerous factors, including widespread misinformation about eligibility, barriers to voter registration, and challenges in casting a ballot.

Still, when given the opportunity, Schenck jumped at his chance to vote.

“Your voice does need to be heard,” Schenck said.

Because when you’re in a place where names don’t matter, he believes voting ensures your voice still does.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.