Henrico community leaders team up to register inmates to vote

The Criminal Injustice Reform Network has teamed up with the Henrico County Sheriff’s Department to create the No More Bars Initiative, a program that will provide eligible inmates in Henrico County jails voting registration.

BeKura Shabazz, President of the Criminal Injustice Reform Network, said the current steps for getting incarcerated individuals involved is by getting them registered and then have them fill out an absentee ballot.

“Voting is humongous but nobody talks about the inmate population,” Shabazz said, just because you get incarcerated for a minor crime does mean you give up your right to vote, she said.

“It’s more than just registering people to vote, it’s getting them civically engaged,” Shabazz said.

The initiative is currently working with the Henrico County Jail and officials hope to expand it further across Virginia.

Henrico Sheriff Alisa Gregory said at during a time like this, anything that can be done to empower people and get them engaged in the community is important. This is just one initiative that starts that process, she said.

As part of the initiative, posters are set up inside the Henrico County Jail. That’s already had a positive impact on inmates going into the library asking about registering, Gregory said.

“Just because you find yourself behind these bars doesn’t necessarily mean you lose the right to vote,” she said, adding that it is important for inmates to be re-engaged and to use their votes.

Though it’s currently working just with the Henrico Sheriff’s Office, the initiative aims to become a national one. It focuses on those convicted of misdemeanors, because once convicted of a felony, a person then loses the right to vote.

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