When first-time voter Tykarri Skillon finished studying the list of candidates, looking for those who shared his priorities on jobs and affordable housing, he marked his ballot and was escorted back to his cell in the Cook County Jail.
And the security at this polling place wasn’t intended to keep disrupters and campaigners out, but the voters in.
“It feels good to have a voice,” Skillon said after casting his ballot during early voting, before the race went to an April 4 runoff. “We’re going home someday, so we should have a voice in our community.” At least one state, Tennessee, had a bill introduced this year to address one of the barriers. Being in jail as a pretrial detainee is not one of the reasons considered valid for granting a mail ballot request, said Democratic state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, the bill’s sponsor. Yabro, who recently announced he was running for mayor of Nashville, wants that changed.
“Previously if detainees wanted to vote, they had to do the legwork,” she said. “They had to know their registration status and make the request for the mail ballot application.” Registrar Dean Logan said as many as 11,700 people could be eligible at a given time when the voting goes countywide. He said it could serve as a model for other counties.
A 2019 state law required that jails take steps to enable voting by detainees who have not been convicted. Smaller jails aren’t required to have polling stations but must arrange for absentee ballots.
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