NUECES COUNTY, Texas — One of the often overlooked segments of voters out there are those people sitting in county jails.
If someone hasn’t been convicted of a felony offense then they have a right to vote. But activists and others say many inmates don’t know that.
There is an effort underway around the state to try and ensure that those behind bars know they can exercise their constitutional right to vote even if their locked up.
Sheriff John Hooper tells 3News that some Nueces County prisoners asked for absentee ballot applications this year. He says those were provided.
Kara Sands our elections administrator says her office doesn’t keep track of the numbers of inmates who have voted but she believes the number to be small.
”We did receive a few applications applications and it’s unusual in the sense that I don’t recall ever receiving or seen an application from an inmate but we did see a few," Sands said.
Now, Durrel Douglas started up his organization known as Houston Justice in 2014. He had worked in the Texas prison system at one time and that sparked an interest in helping inmates.
Specifically, those in county jails. He learned that 75-percent of those folks aren’t even convicted of anything and are eligible to vote. But, most don’t know they can vote.
In 2017, Douglas began Project Orange. An effort to get Harris County inmates registered to vote.
"Before COVID, we were training folks and actually going into the dormitories and it was more of a conversational experience and so our numbers really started going up," Douglas said.
Project Orange has registered 1,200 inmate voters this year.
Sands said the first inmate she knew of asking for a mail-in ballot this year was actually someone who was in the Harris County Jail.
So, it seems Project Orange is helping to let inmates know that they have a right to vote. Douglas is hoping his organization’s effort to register inmates can be duplicated in county jails across the state.
Many people may wonder if inmates can vote on election day. The Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards says that’s not going to happen here in our state.
"We do want to make sure they do understand that you cannot deny up pre-trial inmates their constitutional right to vote because it could be seen as a violation of the 14th amendment," Executive Director Brandon Wood said.
"Almost all of it is done through absentee mail in ballots. Jails do not load inmates up and take them to the polls.”
Douglas argues that inmates should be allowed to vote on election day. He says it would be no different than when they have to go and appear in front of a judge for court. It’s another change he’s hoping state lawmakers will eventually sign off on.
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