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Four million Americans are deprived of their right to vote due to their felony convictions. That’s about one out of 59 adults, or 1.7% of the total US voting eligible population. For people of color, the rate is three times higher: one in 22 people of voting age is disenfranchised. All states, except for Maine and Vermont, restrict voting rights based on criminal convictions. Half the states in the nation including Wisconsin deny voting rights to people on felony-level probation or parole. Ten states deny voting rights to some or all of the individuals even after they’ve finished out their prison, parole, or probation sentences and are “off paper.”

After the Civil War, legal and economic changes paved the way for new political opportunities for freed black men. Not only had the Reconstruction Amendments – the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments aimed at securing basic liberties and rights for African Americans after the Civil War abolished slavery and recognized freed blacks as citizens entitled to due process and equal protection of the laws, they also gave freed black men the right to vote and even hold political office. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified and provided constitutional protections for black men’s right to vote.

From 1867 to 1868, Radical Republicans and their black allies at the national level secured a number of protections for freed people, including federal requirements for enfranchising black men. These political victories for African Americans spurred the development of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The current voting restrictions today parallel that of the 1870’s.

Ballot or the Bars

Almost one-third of the adult population lives with a criminal record or a conviction. They carry a felony on their permanent record, and in US States, that record is a stain. Many live with the criminal record’s consequences for the rest of their lives. Some cannot vote or run for state or a local elected office. To combat that, we have an initiative entitled: “The Ballot or the Bars”. The initiative ensures the right to vote to past and present incarcerated people, as well as the Natives. 

It’s often overlooked that self-government in America was practiced by Native Americans long before the formation of the United States government. And yet, Native Americans continue to face struggle for protection of their voting rights. Even with the lawful right to vote in every state, Native Americans have suffered from poll taxes, literacy tests, fraud and intimidation.

Solution

The Supreme Court has “long recognized that a person’s right to vote is ‘individual and personal in nature.” Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 561 (1964). As a formerly incarcerated individual, Williams is on a mission to make sure every vote counts in this 2024 election. Williams and his A-Team are on a mission to ensure every Native, current and formerly incarcerated individual, including those in county jails have access to and receive a Federal-Write In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) and vote this 2024 Federal election.  He needs your help to accomplish this goal.