Proposition 17 would give felons who are still on parole the right to vote

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of four articles highlighting notable ballot propositions. The other propositions The Californian will be covering are 21, 22 and 24. 

California felons on parole could soon be able to cast their ballot. 

If Proposition 17 passes, felons who are currently on parole will get the right to vote. Currently, those who have been convicted of a felony have to wait until they are off parole to do so. 

Essentially, if this were to pass, the only bar to voting in California would be currently being in prison. 

Here’s how we compare to other states.

According to the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds restored voting rights to those with former convictions through an executive order in August. Nineteen states allow people on felony parole to vote, while two states, Maine and Vermont, allow all people who are currently in jail to vote. Twenty-eight states have more restrictions on voting with a record than California. 

Vanessa Nelson-Sloane, the director and founder of Life Support Alliance, a non-profit organization that advocates for life-term prisoners and their families, supports the proposition.

However, she thinks that allowing those still in prison would be a step too far. 

“Getting votes inside prisons would be a logistical nightmare,” she said. “Once someone is released, they’ve served their time, they may still be accountable to supervision by parole, probation, but I think that’s the time to start letting them participate in society. A lot of people get involved in criminal activity because they don’t feel [like] part of society.”

She is married to a former life term prisoner herself, who served 24 years and just voted for the first time in 30 years in the March primary after getting off of parole. She met him through her work in prisons; if the pandemic wasn’t going on she would still be teaching workshops on a weekly basis within prisons, preparing inmates for parole and rehabilitation.

She first became involved in this work after her nephew received two life sentences after he and several others broke into a home they thought was abandoned. It wasn’t and they moved the residents from the living room to the back yard, which is considered kidnapping in California. Nelson-Sloane believes former prisoners need acceptance and a second chance to be able to rejoin society after they leave prison. 

“It amazes me how many of them really want to live good, law-abiding lives,” she said. “I think in the long term, they would be no different as a voting cohort than any other cohort you might parse out of the general population.”

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty  (R-CA 23rd District) is the lead sponsor of this amendment. Other supporters include Senator Kamala Harris, the ACLU of California, and the League of Women Voters of California. 

Opposition comes in the form of State Senator Jim Nielsen.

He told the Sacramento Bee, “For those that commit the crimes, particularly the heinous crimes, part of their sentence is to complete the parole period.”

California has another voting rights debate up on the ballot, Proposition 18, which would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they’ll be 18 in time for the general election. This means if your 18th birthday was May 31, you could have voted in the primary on March 3.

There are 13 propositions on the ballot this election cycle. Here’s a brief summary of the ones we won’t be covering in this series. 

Proposition 15 supports requiring commercial and industrial properties to be taxed on their market value, rather than their purchase price, excluding those zoned as commercial agriculture. 

Proposition 16 would repeal the affirmative action amendment. Affirmative action makes it so the government cannot discriminate or give preference to someone in public employment, public education or public contracting because of race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin.

Proposition 19, which has to do with property tax transfers, exemptions and revenue for wildfire agencies and counties. According to CalMatters, it would “allow homeowners who are over 55, disabled or victims of natural disaster to take a portion of their property tax base with them when they sell their home and buy a new one.”

Proposition 20 supports expanding some aspects of the criminal justice system, including making some theft-related crimes felonies and creating two new classifications: serial theft and organized retail theft. 

Proposition 23 would regulate dialysis clinics by adding requirements, such as always having at least one physician on site. 

Proposition 25 offers up a chance to voice your yes or no on the cash bail system, essentially approving or rejecting the 2018 California law that sought to remove the system in favor of allowing judges more discretion in deciding whether or not someone should be released before trial.