The Vote in NYC Jails Coalition, which includes The Legal Aid Society, held an election day rally today outside the New York City Board of Elections (BOE) headquarters, calling on the BOE and the New York City Department of Correction to ensure that every eligible voter incarcerated in city jails can cast a ballot that is counted on this and all future election days.

The BOE is legally responsible for guaranteeing ballot access for all New Yorkers, yet each election day, it fails incarcerated voters by refusing to assist with registration or offer in-person voting. As of today, at least 6,000 New Yorkers held at Rikers Island are potentially eligible to vote, and more than 92 percent of those detained are people of color, reflecting the deep racial disparities in the city’s criminal legal system.

To achieve true voting equity, the BOE must establish polling sites in city jails. In-jail polling sites would ensure that ballots are not rejected, that voters can immediately correct any issues, and that all eligible voters can cast ballots during the full voting period. Similar programs have been successfully implemented in other jurisdictions across the country.

“The right to vote should not disappear simply because someone is behind bars,” said Claire Stottlemyer, an attorney with Legal Aid. “Yet too many people detained in New York City jails, disproportionately Black and Latino New Yorkers, are unable to exercise their voting rights due to obstructions by the Board of Elections and Department of Correction. The City must take meaningful steps to address these longstanding failures and hold the agencies responsible, starting with establishing polling sites inside jails.”