What is this proposition about?
As the rate of mass incarceration in the U.S. has exploded in recent decades, the ban on voting for people with past convictions has only intensified voter suppression. The California Constitution currently prohibits people with felony convictions from voting while they are in prison or on parole. As a result, nearly 50,000 Californians living in and contributing to their communities who have completed their prison sentence are denied the opportunity to help choose the representatives and shape the policies that impact their daily lives.
How does it align with yli’s values?
Black, Indigenous and other people of color – including our youth – bear the brunt of our state’s harmful “justice” system. This system is not “broken” – from its inception, it was built to cage and criminalize people of color.
As a social justice organization, yli supports policies that defund punitive systems and restore rights, services and support to formerly incarcerated people. yli youth in Marin and Fresno have worked directly on the issue of juvenile detention, successfully advocating to pass key local and statewide policies to reduce or eliminate juvenile fees. Marin’s Social Host Ordinance established a restorative justice process for youth as an alternative to incarceration, and Fresno’s Boys & Men of Color launched a campaign to ensure that SB 190 – a California law that repeals a slew of fees like registration, drug testing, legal representation, housing, ankle monitors, among other – was enforced in Fresno County.
What is yli doing about it?
yli has just endorsed this proposition, and we are voicing our support on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Who else supports this proposition?
This bill is supported by hundreds of organizations, coalitions, cities, and elected officials across the state. See the full list here.