2020 Proposition 17: Will California Allow Parolees to Vote?

This month I'm writing about the dozen proposals appearing on the November ballot. I’ll endeavor to give readers a glimpse at the basic issues involved, along with links allowing for further study. Later on in the season I’ll post more materials on the higher profile measures under consideration.

The question before us today has to do with enfranchising people on parole so they can vote. Given that the criminal justice system should be constructive rather than destructive to those in its care, giving people a voice seems like a logical step toward encouraging them to be good citizens.

I've already covered:

• Proposition 14, which asks Californians to continue to support stem cell research funding via bond sales.

• Proposition 15, an attempt to mend Proposition 13 so that big business can't take advantage of Californians.

• Proposition 16, allowing a return to affirmative action.

 Proposition 17 : Voting Rights Restoration for Persons on Parole Amendment

For: Free the Vote, a coalition led by Initiate Justice, ACLU of California, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, League of Women Voters of California, People Over Profits San Diego, Vote Allies, White People for Black Lives, and Mi Familia Vota.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Text of Measure |

Against: No organized opposition, but right wing politicians and groups don’t like the idea

(From Ballotpedia)

• State Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-4) called the constitutional amendment a criminal injustice proposal and stated, "Let’s talk a little about the universe we are dealing with here. They include murderers, voluntary manslaughter, rape, sodomists. For those that commit the crimes, particularly the heinous crimes, part of their sentence is to complete the parole period."

• The Election Integrity Project California provided an argument to the state Legislature, which said, "ACA 6 seeks to restore voting rights, the most fundamental and valuable of American privileges, to those who have not completed making full restitution for their crimes. While on parole, a former criminal's liberties, such as movement, association, activities and even ownership of certain items are still heavily restricted and regularly monitored by the system. Any misstep results in immediate re-incarceration. In other words, an individual on parole has not regained the full trust of the society at large, nor the privilege to participate as a full member of that society.”

The Election Integrity Project California, in association with Judicial Watch, were the folks who claimed California was sending 458,000 ballots to voters who are dead or have moved under its vote-by-mail plans.

This assertion hasn’t passed any sniff test I know of, with Capital Public Radio’s fact checkers concluding:

• In the end, EIPCa’s claim is a prediction, and its accuracy is difficult to know. What is certain is that election experts reject its suggestion that California’s mail-in ballot system invites fraud and say they’re confident in the safeguards in place.  

Proposition 17 is on the ballot thanks to a vote by the California Legislature. ACA 6 (the bill putting it on the ballot)  was introduced by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) and co-authored by Assembly members Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), Bonta (D-Oakland), Gipson (D-Carson), Gonzalez (D-San Diego), Kalra (D-San Jose), Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles), Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay), and Weber (D-San Diego) and Senator Wiener (D-San Francisco).

The rest of the story.

In 1974 California voters passed a ballot measure giving people who have committed felonies the right to vote once they complete their sentences and are no longer on parole. Prop 17 would remove the “no longer on parole” requirement, meaning those who get an early release from prison will have the right to vote.

 A survey conducted by a pro-voting rights group last year estimated the ban on parolees voting impacts about 40,000 Californians. According to an estimate from 2016, two thirds of people on parole in the state are Latino or Black.

There is a nationwide effort underway to restore voting rights to parolees. Recently Nevada, Colorado, New York and Florida have expanded voting rights for felons. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia allow people to vote as soon as they’re released from prison, even while on parole.

The backstory on this measure in California is that it is the result of a successful lobbying campaign by 31-year-old son of Fabian Núñez, a former Democratic Assembly speaker, Esteban Núñez.

Esteban was convicted of manslaughter for his role in a 2008 knife fight near SDSU that injured two men and killed Luis Santos, a 22-year-old college student.  On his last day in office, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was cutting Núñez’s 16-year prison sentence to seven years, saying the term was excessive because Núñez did not inflict the fatal stab. 

There was a storm of protest over commutation from the victim’s parents and GOP officials. 

From CalMatters:

• The younger Núñez was released from prison in 2016 and is now a regular at the statehouse where, in tailored suits and sleek black hair, he resembles a taller version of his father. Soft-spoken and quick to acknowledge “the damage that I personally caused,” Núñez combines an inmate’s understanding of prison with a politician’s understanding of the Capitol. As a policy director for the criminal justice nonprofit program Cut50, Núñez is part of the tide pushing California’s penal system from tough-on-crime laws toward giving criminals a second chance.

• His focus this year, as the pandemic replaced in-person lobbying with Zoom meetings: voting rights for Californians on parole, a period of government supervision for criminal offenders that typically lasts about three years. A measure asking voters to do that cleared the Assembly and faces final votes in the Senate this week — if approved, it will land on the November ballot. 

• Núñez’s transition underscores California’s increasingly liberal shift on criminal justice — he credits the leader of a prison rehabilitation program with inspiring him to pursue an advocacy career. But it also reflects the reality of Sacramento, where family ties run deep inside the Capitol.

There is evidence suggesting that restoring the right to vote to people convicted of crimes has a positive impact on the community, as former prisoners begin to believe they have a stake in things.

So, yeah, I’ll be voting for Prop 17. Because I believe the more people vote, the more they care.

Voter Guide - You've Voted for President, what's next?

I'll be writing about many ballot measures and candidates between now and the end of September. That work will be condensed into an handy-dandy voter guide just in time for your mail-in ballots to arrive. I'm the guy who coordinated San Diego Free Press's Voter Guides over the past decade, so this won't be my first effort. Stay tuned.

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