\u201cIf those who are convicted of felonies have their right to vote, then they have a direct say in what’s governing their town,\u201d Jeter says. \u201cThey become more active and conscious of town governance. And they’re able to speak directly to something working, which has the ability to completely change the narrative in their communities about what is possible on a local level.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s both a moral and a personal mission for Jeter, who was incarcerated for nearly 20 years. He came home in 2017, started the coalition in 2018, and has been working on uplifting individuals and communities and enacting legal reforms in Connecticut ever since.<\/p>\n
![\""Voting](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/VotingLogo-400x161-1-300x121.png\")
But the issue of felony disenfranchisement isn\u2019t just a Connecticut problem. The United States has a long history, especially in African American communities, Jeter explains, of restricting ballot access and using the criminal justice system to reduce the political power of communities of color.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s worked. Removing the right to vote has a generational impact on communities most affected by incarceration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat cycle has to break somewhere, and for us, what we see is that it’s really hard to engage communities \u2013 to engage them on something that they’ve never experienced,\u201d Jeter says. \u201cWe want to use the same tool that was used to disengage us to reengage us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That tool is voting. And helping disenfranchised voters reengage with the electoral process through understanding and exercising their right to vote on all levels \u2013 local, state, and federal \u2013 is a goal that Tanya Rhodes Smith, director of the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work<\/a> at the UConn School of Social Work,<\/a> wholeheartedly shares.<\/p>\n \u201cVoting is complicated, and it’s intimidating, especially for vulnerable populations, like the unhoused, the formerly incarcerated, or those living in congregate care,\u201d says Rhodes Smith. \u201cWe know that being a non-voter is a very isolating space, because voting is highly relational. Campaigns generally ignore non-voters\u2014 you don\u2019t get campaign materials, or someone knocking on your door. Information on candidates in state and local elections in communities with low turnout can be very hard to find or even nonexistent.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s where social workers, explains Rhodes Smith, can play an important role in helping disenfranchised voters understand their rights \u2013 and register to vote.<\/p>\n Money, Power, and Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n As co-founders since 2015, UConn\u2019s Humphreys Institute has been the institutional home for Voting Is Social Work.<\/a><\/p>\n Also known as the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign, Voting Is Social Work supports nonpartisan voter engagement as central to social work\u2019s mission, ethical mandate, and impact.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve always believed that social work has the power to transform democracy,\u201d says Rhodes Smith, \u201cand we believe every social worker \u2013 and social service agency \u2013 should include nonpartisan voter engagement into their practice and work. Because we reach non-voters \u2013 those who are least likely to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n Social work was founded as a political profession, she explains, and has always been committed to not only working with individuals, but also working to solve the complex issues and barriers within the communities they serve.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think about social determinants of health \u2013 the environmental and socio-economic conditions in which people live, work, and play that have a powerful impact on our health and outcomes \u2013 these are shaped by money, power, and resources,\u201d Rhodes Smith says. \u201cAnd money, power, and resources are shaped by public policy and elected officials.\u201d<\/p>\n And who better to help people understand how to engage with those processes than the people who are already working within impacted communities?<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the standpoint of clients, guardians, people who are in foster care, overseeing foster care \u2013 the people who don’t have a say, or don’t believe they have a say, in the structures of policies that govern their lives \u2013 sometimes the closest person to you helping you navigate whatever hurdles have been presented in your life at the time are social workers,\u201d says Jeter.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving an understanding of the need and the ability to reach community, I think it impacts and benefits the community, especially when you’re training a generation of social workers to be conscious in this manner,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n And training social workers is exactly what Voting Is Social Work does.<\/p>\n De Facto Disenfranchisement<\/strong><\/p>\n Voting Is Social Work is active in all 50 states, says Rhodes Smith, and provides training and resources for students, faculty, schools, organizations, and individual social workers.<\/p>\n Through a recently relaunched and robust website<\/a>, the campaign provides easily accessible information so that social workers and others can first educate themselves and then work to give that knowledge to the clients and communities they serve.<\/p>\n One of the challenges, Rhodes Smith explains, is that voter registration regulations and Election Day procedures vary widely from state to state. For individuals with special circumstances, complex rules can cause even more confusion.<\/p>\n In the case of felony disenfranchisement, for example, many formerly incarcerated people who believe that they are not eligible to vote actually can cast ballots.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are 20 million people in our country with a felony record, and more than 4 million of them have lost the right to vote, currently,\u201d says Rhodes Smith. \u201cBut there is this de facto disenfranchisement, because people don’t know the rules. They just assume that they can’t vote.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, if social workers don’t know the rules, they can inadvertently suppress the political power of the people that they’re serving. And that goes for those who are in congregate care \u2013 that goes for all of the groups that are most vulnerable and most likely to not understand the complicated set of rules that are made state by state,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n