Michigan Makes Voting Rights Restoration Automatic for Prisoner’s at Release
On November 30, 2023, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmir (D) signed HB 4983, a measure that makes voter registration automatic for state prisoners upon release. With that, the state became the first in the nation to make voter registration the default option for some 8,000 prisoners that it releases every year, though they may opt out if they wish.
The state has provided prisoners at release with the option to register since 2020, part of a program to supply them a state driver’s license or I.D. Driver’s license offices have also registered thousands of other state residents when they obtain, update or renew a license or state I.D. since 2018, after a ballot initiative passed that year, Proposal 3.
The new law adds the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to the list of state agencies making automatic registrations, as well as Tribal Governments that are authorized to issue I.D.s and the state Medicaid program. Ben Gardner, who is state campaign manager for All Voting Is Local, called the 2018 ballot measure “a huge step” that nevertheless left out “a lot of people” who weren’t transacting with a driver’s license office—hence the new bill and its push “to reach people where they’re at.”
“We wanted to include more than just driver’s licenses so that we could really get people registered any time they’re interacting with our government,” agreed the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D), whose 75thDistrict sits outside Lansing.
Michigan is able to make the change because it’s one of 24 states allowing prisoners to have voting rights restored upon release, without any other conditions. But Erica Peresman, an attorney with Promote the Vote, said many released prisoners refused the option because they were “afraid of doing something wrong.”
“We’d be out there at voter registration drives and people would say, ‘no, I have a felony on my record,’” she recalled. “They didn’t want to get in trouble, and they weren’t necessarily going to listen to some lady standing on the street with a clipboard.”
The new law also changes the way voter registration is handled for everyone else, putting opting out on the “back end” of the process by automatically registering people to vote and sending them notice by mail that includes instructions to opt-out then if they choose. It’s a model tried in Colorado, where data shows it keeps more voters on the rolls.
Tsernoglou also sponsored HB 4534, a companion bill that would obligate DOC to educate prisoners at release about upcoming elections and voting by mail. Though it did not pass, she said it “would be a prime example of something we could do additionally, next year.”
Another example would be helping released prisoners obtain a stable address. Percy Glover, who founded F.A.I.R. Voting Alliance after his release in 2004, said the state needs to do more to help released prisoners find not only housing but also jobs.
“Finding somewhere to live, having transportation, having basic needs met—that’s the priority” for newly released prisoners, he said, so “we won’t see significant turnout, as we should, without all these other layers.”
Additional source: Bolts Magazine