Many in Pa.’s county jails can vote but don’t know that. Voting rights advocates look to help

Members of Pennsylvania’s Legislative Black Caucus and voting rights advocates heaped praise Wednesday on Centre County for its commitment to ensuring people who are incarcerated can vote, describing it as one other counties can look to as a leader.

State Reps. Aerion Abney, D-Allegheny, and Rick Krajewski, D-Philadelphia, said Centre County is one of the few in the state to have formal voter outreach policies and dedicated staffers.

“Pennsylvania has a lot of work to do when it comes to our carceral system and criminal justice reform,” Krajewski said Wednesday after touring the jail. “I think this is one of the places we can look to as a shining example of what real reform looks like.”

Most people who are incarcerated are eligible to vote, but Krajewski said only about 4% of the estimated 25,000 people in Pennsylvania’s county jails even request an absentee ballot.

People who are incarcerated while awaiting trial, those convicted of misdemeanors and people who were released after completing their sentence for misdemeanor or felony convictions are among those eligible to vote.

People who are on probation or released on parole are also eligible, as are those who are under house arrest.

The conditions that bar people from voting — namely those serving time for a felony conviction — make up a smaller list. Pennsylvania is one of 23 states that automatically restores voting rights for those convicted of a felony once their prison sentence is complete.

“Centre County is definitely a good model,” Abney said. “They were very open and receptive to new ideas and how to expand access to the ballot for folks in the jail. I want to commend them for that.”

The jail’s policy is still relatively new, Centre County Correctional Facility Warden Glenn Irwin said. The jail’s average daily population in July was 167.

The correctional facility did not offer voting access to inmates prior to 2018. Four years later, a policy that Irwin described as “robust” was adopted by the county’s prison board of inspectors.

Some details of the policy include offering a voting guide to each person who is incarcerated, and he also touted his staff’s efforts to coordinate with elections directors from other counties that have inmates at the jail.

Irwin also said the jail is also working with the League of Women Voters to make “even more information available.”

The last day to register to vote for the upcoming election is Oct. 21. Election Day is Nov. 5.