WVJC 2021 Legislative Priority

Happy New Year!

With a historic election season behind us, we are more fired up than ever to continue the fight for voters’ rights and racial justice.

While you’ve been writing up your New Years’ resolutions, we’ve deciding our legislative priority for 2021. Maybe one of your resolutions can be advocating with us for this crucial voting rights bill? 

One way to help us is to write a note to your legislators! Find them here. Another way to help would be to join the Voting Rights Restoration community webinar at 5pm on January 7. Register here and invite your friends!

Without further ado, here are your two bills to watch:

Our Top Priority: Restore voting rights for people under community supervision

Did you know that thousands of Washingtonians who are contributing to their communities, paying taxes, and working hard for their families are unable to vote? Even though they have completed any prison time they had and have re-entered their communities, they are denied a say in the decisions that affect their daily lives. 

Allowing everyone living in the community to vote would empower the Black/African American and Indigenous communities who are most impacted by the current voting restrictions, and ensure that our democracy is truly representative.

Allowing all people in the community to vote:

1. Gives people impacted by the criminal legal system a valued voice in our democracy, and sets people up for success if they are returning home from prison
2. Promotes racial justice – Black/African American and indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by the legal system due to racial biases
3. Increases public safety – when people are civically engaged and invested in their communities, they are less likely to return to the system and more likely to successfully reintegrate
4. Brings Washington in line with 20 other states and DC, including the rest of the West Coast
5. Simplifies the current policy, making it easier to implement and understand

Thank you for being a voting justice champion in 2021! Don’t forget to contact your legislators and attend the Voting Rights Restoration webinar on January 7.