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Illinois Allows In-Jail Voting — Even Sets Up ‘Civics’ Classes for Inmates About to be Released
I t was just last month when Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law the possession, sale and use of recreational marijuana throughout the state of Illinois. This month, the rookie governor has now signed three far-reaching prison reform bills as well.
As reported by The Center Square, omnibus Senate Bill 2090 requires each of Illinois’ 102 county jails to establish and operate voting facilities for eligible inmates.
“We’re making sure that 20,000 people detained pretrial each year don’t miss out on the opportunity to have their voices heard,” so sayeth Governor Pritzker.
In Illinois, since the 1970s, detained but unconvicted jail inmates have had the right to vote; but neither the Feds, the state nor the county lifted a finger to aid these people in the process of voting.
Look at it this way: You are locked up tight in a jail cell on a minor charge on election day. You are properly registered to vote, but have no way or means of exercising your still intact right to vote. You ask a jailer about this, about how you may vote. His or her response is a cynical, “Shoulda thought about that before you got arrested.”
