Nineteen states are commonly thought to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions as soon as they leave prison. But each state has different constitutional or statutory language about voting rights restoration, which may or may not apply to individuals in halfway houses or reentry facilities. Fair Elections Center is working to determine the point at which people in each of these 19 states can register and vote under state law, then use that research to inform future advocacy efforts.

We need to know what kinds of halfway houses or reentry facilities exist in each of these states so we can determine how the state’s voting rights restoration statute applies to them. Each state runs these facilities differently, and much of the information cannot be found in one place. We believe some states allow individuals to serve parts of their sentences in halfway houses, while other states may only use reentry facilities for individuals on parole or probation. Some states may not use halfway houses or reentry facilities for punitive purposes at all. We want to know more about these 19 states’ halfway houses or reentry facilities.

Each lawyer will provide a memo for six states detailing what kind of halfway houses or reentry facilities exist in that state, who is eligible to reside in those facilities, approximately how many people reside in those facilities, and the extent to which they are confined.