Trying to Vote in Prison

I know that it can sometimes feel like society has forgotten about people in prison, but there are political parties that are supportive of changing things in prison.

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Of course, voting might not actually change anything, but not voting guarantees things will stay the same.

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So, if you didn’t vote this election, consider making your voice heard in the next one.

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I was at Glen Innes Correctional Centre during the 2016 federal election. One day at muster they announced that anyone who wanted to vote in the upcoming election could ask for a form to apply to do so. I think I was the only person at my prison to actually fill out an application.

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I didn’t hear anything after doing this, and the day before the election I went to the guards’ office to ask what was happening with my application and how I could vote. They said they had no idea, though one did say ‘oh, you might be interested in this though’. ‘This’ was a giant stack of Justice Action’s election newspaper, Just Us Volume 7. Enough copies of Just Us were printed to give one to each person in custody in Australia. Copies were sent to each prison, though that didn’t guarantee people would actually receive them.

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The stack looked like it had been sitting in the guards’ office for a long time. They hadn’t been given out. I believe I was the only person in my prison to get one. I don’t know what they ended up doing with all the other copies.

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I never got the chance to vote.

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Weeks later when the Ombudsman happened to visit the prison, I complained about the fact I wasn't allowed to vote even though I had applied. Obviously, there wasn’t much they could do about that, but hopefully they were able to make it easier for people to vote at that prison from thereon.

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After my release, a friend whose house I had redirected my mail to gave me everything that had been sent to me. One of the letters was from the Australian Electoral Commission, giving me a fine for not voting in the election.

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There was a form asking if you had a legitimate reason not to vote, so I wrote “I was in jail” and added how I had complained to the Ombudsman about not being allowed to vote. I never heard back, which means they must have waived the fine.

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For people in prison now, my advice would be to apply to vote before the next election and to keep following things up and make sure that they’re processing your application so that you’re actually able to vote. You’re still part of your original community even if you’re currently in custody, so you should have some say in who will be elected in the community you will return to once you’re released.