Bill > H694

This bill aims to increase voter registration and participation among people incarcerated for felony convictions in Massachusetts to help prevent recidivism. The key provisions of the bill are: 1. Correctional facilities are designated as voter registration agencies, required to provide eligible incarcerated voters with absentee ballot applications and assistance in completing them. 2. Correctional facilities must notify prisoners about the restoration of their voting rights upon discharge and provide them with voter registration forms and assistance. 3. The Secretary of the Commonwealth must maintain a list of individuals who become eligible to vote due to their release from incarceration and ensure they face no barriers to registration or voting. 4. The court must advise defendants pleading guilty, nolo contendere, or admitting sufficient facts to a felony that they will lose their right to vote only while incarcerated, and that their voting rights will be restored upon discharge. The bill seeks to streamline the processes of voter registration and ballot access for incarcerated individuals, with the goal of increasing their civic engagement and reducing recidivism upon release.