How one formerly incarcerated man went from never voting to volunteering at the polls
When Westley Waters went to vote this week, he couldn’t help but expect to be turned away.
The 32-year-old voted for the first time on Monday after being in and out of the criminal justice system for most of his life. He said as he stood in line, he worried poll workers were going to tell him that he couldn’t vote.
“Even though I got my rights back, my mind is programmed to think I can’t vote because I’ve always been in situations I wasn’t able to,” he said. “I’d never done it before.”
North Carolinians convicted of a felony temporarily lose a host of rights afforded to citizens, including gun ownership rights and the right to vote. And according to The Sentencing Project, North Carolina is one of the 17 states (as of 2019) that prohibits a person convicted of a felony from voting until completing their sentence, including probation or parole time.
Once completing their sentence, formerly incarcerated citizens are then eligible to register to vote. (A North Carolina court ruled in September those facing extended probation or parole solely due to unpaid fines and fees to the court are also eligible to vote.)
There’s no national database tracking formerly incarcerated citizens that have since had their voting rights restored, but experts estimate that nearly 15 million people who have been convicted of felonies have regained the right to vote since 2016.
On a bright but brisk Friday afternoon only four days before Election Day, Waters stood on the sidewalk in front of Garinger High School in Charlotte. There volunteering on behalf of the Black Political Caucus, Waters — wearing a mask and a sweatshirt that said “Keep Trying” — greeted voters as they joined the growing line during early voting.
Nothing would tip off to those strangers that this election is his first chance to vote — he’s attentive to each and every voter in line, stressing the importance of their ballot.
“If you don’t like the way things are, it’s only one way to change that. Get out to vote and let your voice be heard,” Waters says.
‘Another thing I had to do’
For many returning citizens like Waters, voting is the last thing on their mind, said Kristie Puckett-Williams, N.C. ACLU organizer.
Instead, they are more concerned about keeping their head above water and avoiding poverty — they must find a place to live, get a job and take care of themselves, she said. Only after that, she said voting is a possibility.
The activist was in her early 30s when she voted for the first time in 2012 after multiple arrests as a young adult.
“I was disenfranchised for many years, so it was important to me that I participate in the presidential election,” Puckett-Williams said.
She still remembers standing in line to vote at 6 a.m. on Election Day. But instead of feeling triumphant, Puckett-Williams said she felt it was just “another thing I had to do.”
“When you’re formerly incarcerated, especially with a felony, it’s like you’re walking around with an albatross around your neck,” she said.
Then, she said she didn’t understand the importance of state and local elections. She’s since educated others on those elections’ significance because she said local and state officials have the most impact on citizens’ day-to-day lives.
“Each elected official has a domain of power,” she said. “Your mayor, city council, county commissioners, they’re the ones looking at the way laws are implemented here locally.”
In addition to the many challenges citizens face once returning home after incarceration, Puckett-Williams said some don’t vote because of misinformation provided to them by officials, such as probation officers. Still others may know their rights but choose not to vote.
“They may not have the energy to interact and engage in this way. If you’re experiencing poverty, that’s the main focus of your life, so being civically engaged is not high on people’s lists,” she said. “We don’t do a good job of making sure marginalized people have access to polls. In fact, we do the opposite.”
Black Americans face disproportionate disenfranchisement.
One of every 13 Black adults in the United States has lost the right to vote and Black Americans of voting age are more than four times as likely to be disenfranchised, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The disproportionate loss of voting rights correlates to the higher rate at which courts convict Black Americans.
Around 2.2 million Black citizens are banned from voting in the United States and comprise 38% of the country’s disenfranchised population.
A vicious cycle
Waters, a Staten Island native, moved to Charlotte when he was 19. He wasn’t even here for four months before he had his first run-in with the law. What followed were several years of felonies and misdemeanors, eventually leading to jail sentences.
He said after he violated probation the first time and had to attend a program, he “pretty much straightened up.” He got his GED, and went to community college, though he didn’t finish. Waters wanted to do social work or counseling.
But he went down the wrong path again, and in 2016, Waters went to federal prison. One of the charges: having a gun illegally, due to his prior conviction on a felony charge.
He served 14 months of an 18-month sentence and said he was released to a halfway house in Charlotte in May 2017.
“Some people may not think that’s a long time, but in jail, any time is a long time, believe me,” he said. “I had just had a daughter before I went away, so I had to get my mind right, as far as my thinking and living. I couldn’t go back and leave her here. So I wanted to work and get money the right way, the correct way.”
It was only after family friend and County Commissioner Mark Jerrell was elected in 2018 and Waters attended his Election Night watch party that he realized voting was a priority for him, too.
“At that moment I realized that my vote could’ve mattered for him,” Waters said. “Now, I have the chance, and this presidential election here is a very important election, if not the most important we’ve had.”
He thinks many who are formerly incarcerated don’t vote because they don’t think they can make a difference. He said because they don’t think their vote matters, they don’t vote, and their voices continue to go unheard.
“It’s sad to say, but it is what it is,” Waters said. “Nothing changes, and we’re back to the same place.”
More ballots sent from jails
Kenny Robinson started Freedom Fighting Missionaries, Inc., a nonprofit organization that assists people recently released from jail make the transition back to society. Robinson spent 10 years in federal prison before being released in 2012.
“I, like many of us, didn’t have the job skills nor the education after being away for so many years,” he said.
He estimates he applied to more than a hundred jobs before finally landing somewhere stable: a car dealership where he worked his way up to a managerial position.
By the time Robinson was 18, he had a criminal record, precluding him from the voting process. Robinson didn’t vote until he was 37.
“I was excited about it, but you’re also walking into something strange,” he said. “You go in the poll place by yourself, and you don’t want to make mistakes or ask for help because you already think everybody can see you’re formerly incarcerated, but you want to feel like you’re a part of the process.”
But Robinson said it’s an important part of returning to society and getting over the past.
He said he thinks the challenge is educating returning citizens on their rights, and that more formerly incarcerated citizens voting could mean more power in the future.
“We would be able to say, this is a program we need. We would have lobbying power if more of us voted,” he said. “That’s the only way, and we have a very long way to go.”
Some people who are incarcerated also retain their ability to vote, such as those who are awaiting trial in jail and have no prior felony conviction. But many don’t vote — guards and voters themselves are often unaware of their right to the ballot. Only 20 people in North Carolina voted while incarcerated in the 2018 election, according to North Carolina Health News.
Already, that number is much higher this year. While incarcerated, a registered and eligible voter may use mail-in absentee ballots.
In Mecklenburg County, home to the state’s largest county-run detention center, 175 people incarcerated earlier this month were registered to vote, Sheriff Garry McFadden told North Carolina Health News. Of those, McFadden said, 147 had voted absentee from the jail.
Waters said after voting on Monday, he feels like he’s a part of the change that might take place this November. And he’s been volunteering at the polls.
“Why not help make change?” he said.
The most shocking part, Waters said, is witnessing people who have never been incarcerated vote for the first time.
“That’s interesting to me, the people who have had the chance to,” he said. “I’m surprised they haven’t.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 10:39 AM.
