H.B. 5611, An Act Concerning the Counting of Incarcerated Persons for Purposes of Determining Legislative Districts

Connecticut should count people who are incarcerated as residents of their last town of residence and allow people who are incarcerated to vote in that district’s elections.

As an organization committed to the liberties guaranteed by our Constitution, the ACLU-CT strongly supports a free and fair voting system to uphold the foundational cornerstone of our democracy: the right to vote. The state should count people who are incarcerated as residents of their last town of residence and allow people who are incarcerated to vote in that district’s elections. People should not be counted as residents of the community in which they are incarcerated because they do not decide where they will be imprisoned. Counting someone who is incarcerated as a resident of the town in which the prison is located is misleading because it implies that they chose to live in that area. The ACLU-CT urges the legislature to add a provision allowing incarcerated people to vote to House Bill 5611 and support the bill.