http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Chion/do%20121001%20offender%20voter%20registration.mp3
"Are you registered?"
"Well, you all just convinced me. Now I want to register."
Tywain Harris was recently released from prison after serving three years for selling drugs. Today he’s headed to a job interview. Along the way, for the first time, he’s registered to vote.
"Well, you have an input on a lot of things. And you could stop complaining and crying at the T.V. ‘cause this politician not doing this, and this politician... Just go out and vote and you can change some things."
A report released earlier this year by the Sentencing Project finds that about 1 in every 40 adults in the
Voting rights for ex-cons vary dramatically state by state.
Althea Marshall Brooks is coordinator for the New Haven Prison Reentry Initiative. She says many people on probation don’t realize that here they’re eligible to vote.
"We want ex-offenders or reentrants to successfully reintegrate into the community and one of the ways to actually be a part of community is to have a voice in it. To be one who’s a part of selecting leadership."
There will be voter registration drives at probation offices and at agencies working with ex-offenders throughout