How often do people vote while incarcerated? Evidence from Maine and Vermont
Name
714927.pdf
Description
Published version
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78.16 KB
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542d75b5d89768c365336e287bf02580
Author(s)
White, Ariel R.
Nguyen, Avery
Date Issued
October 2021
Journal
The Journal of Politics
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Citation
White, Ariel R and Nguyen, Avery. 2021. "How often do people vote while incarcerated? Evidence from Maine and Vermont." The Journal of Politics.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Recent debates about enfranchising incarcerated people raise the question of how many additional votes such policies would generate. Existing research finds very low voter participation among previously incarcerated people, but it remains unclear how often people might vote from prison if given the opportunity. We use data from states that allow people to vote while incarcerated for felony crimes, to address this question. We merge prison records with the voter file to estimate how many currently incarcerated people are registered and voted in recent elections. Estimates suggest very few (under one in 10) eligible incarcerated voters in Vermont and Maine voted in the 2018 election. Given the winning margins in other states’ recent elections, these estimates suggest that enfranchising currently incarcerated people would likely not have changed these statewide election outcomes. We conclude that debates about enfranchisement should focus less on anticipated electoral effects and more on normative issues.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
10.1086/714927
