On Thursday, a coalition made up of voting rights and civic leaders traveled to Springfield to raise awareness about the inhumane conditions inside Illinois prisons and to demand the restoration of voting rights for incarcerated people.
“A democracy cannot function while excluding the very people most impacted by its decisions,” Marlon Chamberlain, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, said in a press statement. “The conditions inside our prisons are not just a crisis of humanity; they are a reflection of a system that operates without accountability.”
The Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments is one of the 100 community organizations supporting the passage of the RACE Act, which they say is not only a voting rights issue, but a human rights issue.
Restoring voting rights is not just about participation; it’s about power, dignity, and ensuring that those living under these conditions have a voice to change them,” he continued. “That’s why we strongly support the RACE Act as a critical step toward restoring civic power and accountability. We cannot claim justice while silencing millions.”
Chicago Votes is the lead organization behind the proposed Reintegration and Civic Empowerment (RACE) Act, or SB2983/HB5414, and has been advocating for its passage since 2020. The coalition is urging Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, and the Illinois State Legislature to pass the RACE Act during the current legislative session.
“Equality Illinois believes that democracy only works when everyone has a voice. Disenfranchising incarcerated people — disproportionately Black, brown, and LGBTQ+Illinoisans — is not just a voting rights issue,” Channyn Lynne Parker, CEO of Equality Illinois, said in a press release. “ It is a human rights issue. We stand firmly in support of the RACE Act and the restoration of full civic participation for all people, regardless of their address.”
The coalition also argues that inhumane conditions in state prisons are among the most pressing reasons why incarcerated people should have their voting rights restored.
“Every great moral failure in American history was held in place by silence and legalized exclusion — and Illinois is writing its own chapter right now,” Stephen Thurston, chief impact officer at Rainbow P.U.S.H., said in a written release.
In 2023, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued drinking water violation notices to 10 Illinois prisons. Testing conducted by the EPA at Stateville found bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease, according to the Uptown Peoples Law Center. In 2025, a federal judge ordered the closure and evacuation of Stateville.
In 2025, seven current and formerly incarcerated women at the Logan Correctional Center filed federal lawsuits alleging sexual assault, harassment, and retaliation.
“Women giving birth in shackles. People drinking contaminated water,” Hurston said. “Officials who cannot be voted out have no reason to stop. That is not an accident — that is a design. Governor Pritzker, Speaker Welch, Senate President Harmon — you have the power and the moral standing to end this. The RACE Act is your moment. We are ready to walk this across the finish line together.”
If approved by the Illinois House and Senate and signed by Pritzker, the RACE Act would give the right to vote to people who are incarcerated in Illinois prisons and require civic education courses to be available to them while they’re incarcerated, adding an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 Illinoisans to the voter rolls.
There are laws in 48 states, not including Maine or Vermont, that ban people with felony convictions from voting, which is an estimated four million people, according to a 2024 report by The Sentencing Project.
In Illinois, people who have been convicted of any crime, or are currently serving a sentence in any federal or state prison, county jail or on work release, are barred from voting in elections.
However, some individuals can vote, including those who’ve been released from jail on parole, mandatory supervised release, or electronic monitoring, and those being held in jail pretrial, out on bail, or on bond.
In 2019, Pritzker signed Senate Bill 2090 into law, which made Cook County Jail the first jail in the U.S. to serve as a polling place for a primary or general election.
Access to voting also aids in the rehabilitation of incarcerated people. It helps with reintegrating them after release, according to Illinois State Rep. Marcus C. Evans Jr. (D-33).
“Preparing the incarcerated to be productive in society is key to correction and rehabilitation,” Evans said in a statement. “The R.A.C.E. Act prioritizes humanization over punishment, moves us closer to a system that promotes pride, productivity and positivity. Further, it values all voices because the incarcerated citizen is a citizen, the incarcerated human is somebody.”
