Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill on Friday mandating that election officials bring voting services to county detention centers and jails.
Going forward, counties will be required to designate an employee to put together voting access for those locked up. This includes one day of in-person voting at the county jail or detention center for all confined eligible electors, according to the Colorado General Assembly. The in-person voting day must be open for at least 6 hours and be held on any day between the fifteenth day before election day and the fourth day before election day (via Leg.Colorado.gov):
Additionally, the clerk and recorder is required to confirm through the department of corrections online offender database that a confined individual is not serving a felony sentence before the individual can register to vote or is permitted to vote…on the day of in-person voting.
State Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Democrat, sponsored the bill. She told NBC News that she created the legislation because inmates were not voting because of “logistical hurdles.”
“In Colorado, we really pride ourselves on our gold star election system,” Gonzales said. “Yet we realized that there was a group of individuals who weren’t able to fully access the ballot.”
“One of the things that we heard from people who had previously been incarcerated was that being able to weigh in on these elections was so important for them to remember that even though they are navigating the criminal legal system, that they still are a member of a community, a citizen of Colorado, and that they still had rights and obligations,” Gonzales added.
Earlier this year, CBS News reported that efforts were underway in California to give ballots to inmates.
"Most people who are incarcerated can vote, however, they don't know that they can vote," said Rhonda Rios Kravitz of the Sacramento Voter Coalition.
"Almost 70% in the jail are there pre-trial, which means they have not been convicted," Rios Kravitz said. "If you're there for a misdemeanor you can vote, if you're there on probation you can vote, if you're on parole you can vote.”