Press Advisory: Community forum on restoring voting rights to people with convictions to be held on June 27 in Trenton

On June 27 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, located at 801 W. State Street in Trenton, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (Institute) will host a community forum on the need to restore the right to vote to people with convictions featuring: Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, a sponsor of legislation to restore voting rights to people in prison, on parole, and on probation in New Jersey; Scott Novakowski, Institute Associate Counsel and author of We Are 1844 No More: Let Us Vote; Mark Hopkins, a Rutgers student who is denied the right to vote; Ron Pierce, a re-entry advocate who is denied the right to vote; Dianna Houenou, ACLU-New Jersey Policy Counsel; and Reverend Karen Hernandez-Granzen of Westminster Presbyterian Church, with introductory remarks from Trenton Mayor-Elect Reed Gusciora.

“Voting is a fundamental right that should not be lost because of a criminal conviction,” said Ryan Haygood, Institute President and CEO. “New Jersey first broadly denied the right to vote to people with criminal convictions in 1844, the same year it adopted a constitution that restricted voting to white men. By linking the right to vote to a criminal justice system infected with racism, New Jersey maintains its policy of racial exclusion. Our campaign to restore the right to vote to people with convictions, 1844 No More, seeks to turn the page on 1844 and put an end to this racist, pernicious practice.”

Earlier this year, historic legislation — S2100/A3456 — was introduced to restore the right to vote to people in prison, on parole, and on probation. Almost 100 organizations, as well as the mayors of Newark, Hoboken, and Jersey City, have joined the call for New Jersey to sever the link between the fundamental right to vote and the criminal justice system.

The forum is sponsored by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Unitarian Universalist Church of Princeton, Lutheran Episcopal Advocacy Ministry of New Jersey, Jubilee  Office of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, ACLU-New Jersey, Reform Jewish Voice of New Jersey, NAACP-Trenton branch, Let People Vote-Mercer County, Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey, Salvation and Social Justice, New Jersey Association of Black Women Lawyers, American Friends Service Committee-Newark office, Volunteers of America Delaware Valley, NeighborCorps Re-Entry Services, and NJ Chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

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