On Election Day, approximately 448,000 legally innocent people will be held in more than 3,000 local jails across the United States. Since they have not been convicted of a crime, they are eligible to vote. But few will get the chance to exercise that right.

In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who are held in jail and haven’t been convicted of a crime maintain their right to vote. However, because the court did not require jails to provide people with voting booths or write-in ballots, only a tiny percentage of incarcerated people who are eligible to vote actually do. Many people who are detained pretrial are not even aware that they can still vote. This is understandable, because it is sadly common for people convicted of crimes to lose the right to vote after being released from prison, an injustice that many states have moved to rectify in recent years. Even if people who are incarcerated pretrial are aware that they can still vote, the logistical obstacles are often insurmountable. In 2022, the Prison Policy Initiative could locate only seven jails across the whole country that offered in-person voting.

De facto disenfranchisement due to pretrial detention has a disproportionate effect on racially and economically marginalized communities, depriving them of needed political power. Pervasive overpolicing and criminalization of Black communities nationwide helped drive the number of people held in jail while awaiting trial up more than 433 percent between 1970 and 2015.

People experiencing poverty are also disproportionately affected. In many parts of the United States, money bail systems criminalize poverty by forcing people who are legally innocent, but cannot afford to buy their freedom, to sit in jail before the their cases are decided. Nearly 40 percent of people in the United States are unable to easily cover a $400 emergency expense, let alone the $10,000 average bail set on a felony case or the 10 percent partially secured option of $1,000.

It is wholly unfair and ineffective to confine people behind bars pretrial because they can’t afford bail. Research has shown that, rather than making communities safer, detaining people who are awaiting trial actually increases the likelihood that they’ll be arrested again in the future. Additionally, people who are jailed pretrial are more likely to plead guilty, be convicted, and have longer sentences compared with people who were released to the community. The damages of pretrial detention are serious, including job loss, housing loss, family separation, and—on Election Day—unjust disenfranchisement.

Some places in the United States are working to address this wrong and expand voting access in local jails. This past June, Colorado became the first state to mandate that election officials offer voting services in jails and detention centers. Now, incarcerated people who have maintained their right to vote because they are being held pretrial or serving time for misdemeanors should be able to cast their ballots in the upcoming presidential election.

In 2019, Illinois required counties with populations of over three million to establish polling places in their jails. After Chicago’s Cook County Jail established a polling location, the jail saw a 40 percent turnout in the 2020 general election. In the June 2022 primary, the jail’s polling station reported the highest voter turnout in the 24^th Ward, which covers 20 precincts in Chicago.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told Vera that the jail’s polling place helps people maintain productive ties to the outside world. “In all seriousness, what better way [is there] to get a person committed to their community?” he said. “They’re voting for the people that are running their community.”

Additionally, a growing number of jurisdictions, including Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, DC, are reforming pretrial systems to reduce or eliminate money bail. These reforms allow for detention for people who pose a serious flight or safety risk, while ensuring that most legally innocent people are spared days, months, or even years in jail.

The ballot box offers a path to reform some of the many injustices that flow from broken and racist systems, including overpolicing, money bail, and mass incarceration. Making voting accessible to people who have been harmed by these systems is essential. Those who are jailed while awaiting trial need to be given fair opportunities to vote and steer their communities toward a safer, healthier, and more prosperous future.

“You’re not even guilty until you’re actually proven guilty,” said Amjad Asaad, who voted from the Cook County jail in 2023 while being held pretrial. “There’s so many people who are incarcerated that need to be heard.”