PR03-028

Date:

October 28, 2003

 
Fulton Inmates to Cast Absentee Ballots
in November 4th Election
 

Inmates at the Fulton County Jail are casting their ballots for the next election. With the help of a local minister, staff from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, inmates who have not been convicted and who are awaiting trial are being encouraged to exercise their civil rights to vote. Under this first of its kind project, inmates will cast their ballots in the November 4th election to determine the position of Fulton County Commission Chairperson vacated by former Commissioner Mike Kenn, and a position on the Atlanta School Board.

According to Sheriff Jacquelyn Barrett, the project has thus far registered 676 inmate voters at the Fulton County Jail. The project fits with Sheriff Barrett’s vision that inmates be able to return to the community as fully productive and participating members.

The Reverend Benford Stellmacher of the Grace Covenant Baptist Church has been pursuing efforts at the Fulton County Jail to register inmate voters who are scheduled to cast absentee ballots on Wednesday, October 29, 2003, at 3:00 p.m. Reverend Stellmacher and Reverend Joseph L. Lowery will be at the jail to collect the absentee ballots for mailing prior to the postal deadline. Reverend Stellmacher has worked on the inmate voting project through the encouragement and support of Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda.

“This is a historic event for civil rights in America,” says Reverend Stellmacher. It’s an effort that was started fifteen (15) years ago by the late Reverend Hosea Williams, who stood by his belief that all men and women accused and incarcerated shall not be stripped of their right to vote. In 1969, a Cook County, Illinois case was decided by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled on the merits of inmate voting rights. The high court decided that an accused person scheduled to stand trial, though incarcerated, is entitled to cast an absentee ballot in upcoming elections.

Of the 676 registered inmate voters, 376 have qualified to cast absentee ballots in the November 4th election. Although many of these inmates have been released from the jail since the registration effort began, 76 inmates are expected to cast absentee ballots at the jail on Wednesday.

For more information, please contact Lieutenant Clarence Huber at (404) 730-4148. Lieutenant Huber can also be reached on his digital pager at (404) 742-6798.