NAACP visits Metro Atlanta jail to register inmates to vote

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    DECATUR, GA (WGCL ) — The DeKalb County Chapter of the NAACP visited the DeKalb County Jail on the twelfth of February to offer inmates the chance to register to vote. In what has become an annual outreach program, authorized registrars received applications from 38 inmates.

“It is important that every citizen who has the right to vote also has a chance to exercise that right,” says DeKalb Sheriff Melody Maddox. “Many incarcerated individuals don’t realize that they can still cast absentee ballots in elections while they are in custody, but they must first be registered voters.”

The NAACP explains the registration process to detainees, completes applications, and returns them to the county voter registration office. After the applications are approved, registered inmates are given absentee ballots for use in various elections.

In Georgia, only convicted felons who have not yet complied with all their judicial system obligations are ineligible to register to vote.

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