Beyond the nearly 2 million people in the U.S. who are incarcerated, tens of millions more (1 in 3 Americans) are dealing with the collateral consequences of living with a criminal record, “entangling them in a web of legal restrictions and discrimination that permanently excludes them from full participation in the community” (Collateral Consequences Resource Center, 2023).

Despite the fact that voting is an essential part of civic life, laws in 48 states currently ban people with felony convictions from voting and, in 2022, an estimated 4.6 million Americans, representing 2 percent of the voting-age population, will be ineligible to vote due to these laws or policies (The Sentencing Project, 2023).

This Reentry Spotlight from the National Reentry Resource Center summarizes the challenges to voting faced by individuals with criminal records and highlights resources from the field that increase awareness of this vital topic and that provide state-specific overviews, policies, and links to support for increasing voting access for all Americans.

View the Reentry Spotlight