What we want
Individuals serving a felony sentence should not lose their right to vote. Voting should be an inalienable right and felony disenfranchisement should end.
While the vast majority of individuals tangled up in correctional system are living in the community, eligible voters residing in Georgia correctional facilities should be provided with absentee ballots or polling locations inside the facility.
Understanding Felony Disenfranchisement in Georgia
What is felony disenfranchisement?
Individuals in Georgia convicted of a felony criminal offense lose their right to vote until the completion of their sentence including probation and parole.
What are “crimes involving moral turpitude”?
Georgia law states that anyone convicted of a “crime involving moral turpitude” will lose their voting rights. However, it does not clearly define what “moral turpitude” means. As a result, the loss of civil voting rights is applied to all felony offenses, regardless of the type of crime.
When are voting rights restored?
Voting rights are automatically restored upon completion of their sentence, including probation and parole. However, the individual must re-register to vote. If someone runs into difficulty registering, they can request a Certificate of Completion from the Department of Community Supervision showing they are “off paper”.
Do unpaid legal fines, fees, and/or restitution prevent someone from being eligible after the sentence has been completed?
No. If someone was on probation and their probation is complete, their fines are automatically cancelled when probation ends and therefore they can vote. In addition, the Secretary of State says that unpaid fees, costs, restitution, and surcharges do not prevent someone from voting if their sentence is complete. In the rare situation that someone’s felony sentence was a fine only — and did not include probation — they must pay that fine before their sentence is considered complete so they can vote.
Have more questions about the restoration of your voting rights?
We try to keep accurate information here but our friends and colleagues at the Georgia Justice Project keep more detailed and up-to-date information and support resources on their website: GJP.org/voting.
Georgia Felony Disenfranchisement Data
More than 265,000 Georgians could not vote in 2019 due to an active felony sentence.
210,793 were living in their community under correctional supervision.
– Reform Georgia
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| Felony Probation | 196,745 | 190,720 | 190,305 |
| Serving Parole | 22,386 | 21,067 | 20,488 |
| Incarcerated in Prison | 54,419 | 54,806 | 55,067 |
| Total | 273,550 | 266,593 | 265,860 |
Average felony probation sentences in Georgia are 6.3 years, nearly double the US average. Over 37% of individuals have a probation sentence longer than 10 years.
– Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform
Probation and parole can last more than a decade which means extended periods of disenfranchisement after release.
Racial Disparities in Felony Disenfranchisement in Georgia
In 2019, despite Black Georgians representing just 31.6% of the state’s population, 50% of Georgians on felony probation (100,010) and 54% on parole (10,351) in 2019 were Black.
The solution is simple – do not take away voting rights. Voting is an inalienable right.