The event will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill beginning at 7 p.m.
On Thursday, April 5 at 7 p.m., the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (Institute) and its partners will host a community forum at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill, on the growing movement to restore voting rights to people in prison, on parole, and on probation for a felony.
The event will feature speakers including:
· Institute President and CEO Ryan Haygood
· Judge Karen Williams, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey
· Patricia McKernan, COO of Volunteers of America Delaware Valley and President of the Reentry Coalition of New Jersey
· Ronald Pierce, a Rutgers student and Institute intern who is currently denied the right to vote
“As a result of racial disparities throughout the criminal justice system, half of those denied the right to vote are Black, even though Black people make up only 15 percent of the state’s total population,” said Ryan P. Haygood, Institute president and CEO. “To erase this moral stain on our democracy, New Jersey must restore the right to vote to people on probation, parole, or in prison.”
Thursday’s discussion in Cherry Hill follows the introduction of a bill last month, sponsored by Senator Ronald Rice, Senator Sandra Cunningham, Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, and Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker that would restore voting rights to people on parole, on probation, and in prison. New Jersey currently denies the right to vote to more than 94,000 people with criminal convictions — more than the total population of Trenton, the state’s capital.
“All citizens deserve the right to vote,” said Rohn Hein, co-chair of UU Faith Action NJ Criminal Justice Task Force, a co-sponsor of Thursday’s event. “People who have been incarcerated should not be deprived the fundamental right of participation in our democracy. Our system demands that all people are represented and be allowed to decide who our elected officials are. Voting is a basic freedom for which patriots for hundreds of years have given their lives.”
The campaign has been endorsed by more than 90 organizations, along with the mayors of Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City, Plainfield, and Bloomfield.
“Community conversations that shine a light on the racist foundation of laws that bar people with convictions from the polls are absolutely necessary to correct this injustice,” said Jesse Burns, executive director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, a co-sponsor of the event.
According to the institute’s report, We Are 1844 No More: Let Us Vote, New Jersey enacted its first broad ban on voting by people with criminal convictions in 1844, the same year it adopted a state constitution that restricted voting to white men and a time when slavery was still legal in New Jersey.
“Nearly 175 years later, New Jersey continues to deny voting rights to people with criminal convictions,” said Institute associate counsel Scott Novakowski, primary author of the report. “If we agree that voting is a fundamental right, as the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed, then there is simply no legitimate reason to deny that right. We do not deny people in prison the right to practice their religion. Why would we deny them the right to vote?”
“When someone is convicted of a crime a sentence is handed down. That is the price they pay to society,” said Daniel Dowdy, president of the Rutgers Chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild, a co-sponsor of the event. “To further punish them by saying that they have no voice, that they are not a part of our society, is unjust and contrary to the spirit of democracy.”
The event is sponsored by: the ACLU of New Jersey, the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, NAACP New Jersey State Conference, the Reentry Coalition of New Jersey, Rutgers Law School, the Rutgers Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill, UU Faith Action NJ Criminal Justice Task Force, and Volunteers of America Delaware Valley.
“Volunteers of America has worked diligently to promote successful reentry and rehabilitation for individuals leaving the criminal justice system for more than 100 years,” said Pat McKernan, Chief Operating Officer for Volunteers of America Delaware Valley. “We fully support restoring the right to vote for individuals after incarceration as it promotes civic engagement and community investment.”
