Officials tout new program to help county inmates vote

LOS ANGELES – Many inmates housed in Los Angeles County jails are still eligible to vote and will be able to do so under a new program introduced Sunday by Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan.

The two officials held a press conference on Sunday, Feb. 23, to introduce the “We All Count” voting campaign, a pilot program at the Century Regional Detention Facility for women that allows eligible inmates housed there to register to vote and cast ballots inside the facility.

Personnel with the county’s population management bureau and education-based incarceration staff engaged qualifying women housed at the facility and determined who was interested in voting. Once eligibility was confirmed, the inmates attended a non-partisan civics course to gain a basic understanding of civic life, politics, government, and a brief history of how our nation and government were developed, officials said.

Election materials were provided and inmates who were not registered were assisted through the process.

In the past, participating inmates used the vote-by-mail process.

“I’m pleased to say that almost 2,200 inmates throughout all Los Angeles County housing facilities chose to participate in voting and were registered,” Villanueva said.

Eligibility for incarcerated persons to vote is determined by the following factors:

— 18 years of age or older,

— A citizen of the united states,

— Awaiting trial or on trial for any crime,

— In jail for a misdemeanor conviction,

— In jail on a probation violation,

— In jail on felony probation, or serving a county jail sentence under the California public safety realignment act, Assembly Bill 109.

The only time a person cannot vote while in county jail is if they are: awaiting transfer to a state or federal prison for a felony conviction, in jail for a parole violation, serving a state prison sentence under a contract with a county jail or currently deemed mentally incompetent to vote by a court.

Details on the program are available at https://lasd.org/we-all-count-campaign.