Sacramento State has a program to support students who have been incarcerated called Project Rebound.

Harold Jordan, housing program coordinator, helps students register to vote and generally say they can. He has also been incarcerated for a crime in the past.

“I think it empowers someone, you know?” he said. “I am no longer voiceless.”

Four years ago, Californians voted to give felony parolees the right to vote Proposition 17. That means people are exercising that right for the first time in this year’s presidential election.

“Not being able to express my opinion or make my voice heard through a vote was very disheartening,” he said, adding that there were elections and ballot measures he wished he had had in view.

He also said that voting is very important in transitioning to life outside prison.

“It’s part of becoming a productive student, getting back into society, knowing how to pay your taxes when you have a job, being able to vote,” he said.

Tens of thousands of Californians are on parole.

Almost half of US states allow people to vote once they are released from prison, such as California.

Maine and Vermont are the only two states where criminal convictions do not affect a person’s right to vote, even if they are currently serving a sentence.

In another dozen or so, the state may never restore that right to a person.

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