BC Civil Liberties Association, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Prisoners’ Legal Services join call
The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), and Prisoners’ Legal Services have asked the British Columbia government to ensure that eligible voters confined in provincial correctional centres can participate in BC’s Oct. 17 general local elections.
“The Province must ensure eligible voters in custody can obtain information, establish their eligibility, and cast a private and valid ballot,” said Meghan McDermott, BCCLA policy director, in a press release. “Consistent provincial leadership is necessary to protect equality, democratic participation and respect for the rule of law.”
In their recent joint letter, the organizations specifically sought:
- province-wide guidance from BC’s Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs and Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
- operational support from BC Corrections
- coordination with local governments and chief election officers
- potential legislative or regulatory reform to address any lack of meaningful voting access within the existing system
“People in custody cannot independently navigate numerous local election systems, deadlines and ballot procedures,” said Nicole Kief, executive director for Prisoners’ Legal Services. “BC Corrections must work directly with election officials to provide registration assistance, mail or special-ballot support, secure ballot-return procedures and protections for ballot secrecy.”
Overrepresentation
The organizations stressed the importance of meaningful voting access to addressing systemic racism within public systems. The organizations emphasized the substantial overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black individuals in correctional custody in the province.
According to the organizations, any failure of election and correctional systems to tackle known obstacles to voting among those in custody will impact communities already facing systemic discrimination.
“Incarceration should not create an insurmountable administrative barrier for people who remain legally entitled to vote,” Kief said in the organizations’ press release.
Prior correspondence
Before the recent joint letter, the organizations sent letters to 11 chief election officers and the corresponding 11 local governments that had or were near provincial correctional centres.
In the previous correspondence, the organizations urged local election officials to utilize special voting opportunities, mail-ballot procedures, and other existing resources and legal powers to assist voters in correctional custody in exercising their voting rights
“Democracy is weakened when the law recognizes a person as an elector, but government systems make that right practically impossible to exercise,” McDermott said in the press release.
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