Building Political Power with "Third Citizens": A Participatory Pilot Project to Co-Transform and Implement the Voter Engagement Model with Formerly Incarcerated Peoples

Introduction: Connecticut law disenfranchises individuals incarcerated for a felony conviction. Despite expanding this right to those on parole in 2021, formerly incarcerated individuals vote at exceptionally low rates (Gerber et al., 2015), which impacts political power, policy priorities and outcomes in divested communities. Anchored in the goals of liberation and civic empowerment, this interdisciplinary project draws on community psychology and social work to co-translate and pilot the Voter Engagement Model (VEM) —a nonpartisan model focused on linking voting to community well-being— for formerly incarcerated individuals.This participatory project is in collaboration with the Full Citizen Coalition (FCC), a community-based organization working to engage formerly incarcerated individuals to exercise their right to vote.

Methods: This project is developed and executed in deep collaboration with FCC, a coalition started by formerly incarcerated persons for all impacted persons free or bound, who through civic advocacy, community education, and programs, support returning citizens transition in the most holistic way. The collaboration includes designing and conducting six focus groups, (anticipated N = 30) with formerly incarcerated people in 3 cities disproportionately impacted by high incarceration rates in CT. Rooted in the liberatory framework of critical consciousness (Freire, 2003), we use focus groups to explore barriers to voting and participation in civic power specific to this structurally marginalized population (Aim 1). Informed by this data, we are co-transforming and field testing the VEM curriculum with formerly incarcerated individuals to solicit input on the adaptations through evaluative interviews (Aim 2) (N = 5). All data collection will be completed by May, 2023. The majority of the sample thus far (85%) is BIPOC, and men (78%). Focus groups were facilitated by two members of the FCC. Three coders are analyzing the preliminary data using thematic analysis (Braune & Clarke, 2006).

Results: Preliminary analysis of the focus group data thus far (Aim 1) suggests three emergent themes. Participants named the longitudinal experience of systemic disenfranchisement implicating both the educational and carceral systems as disengaged in building their civic knowledge. The emergence of paradox–(i) around recognizing the hard fought gains of the civil rights movement, the invocation of grandparents who pushed the importance of voting and the experience of feeling invisible in democracy; and (ii) believing their votes/voices do not matter while simultaneously naming the deep need for an organizing and anti-racist VEM to improve voting in systems-impacted communities–is poignant.

Conclusions: Although ongoing, the current study highlights the urgency for engaging in participatory processes that democratize both (i) knowledge production with carceral system-impacted people (Rose et al., 2023), and (ii) the power of using research through a critical consciousness lens to inform legislative change. FCC focuses on grassroots advocacy and community organizing as well as legislative change. A co-author on this paper worked tirelessly to have Connecticut enfranchise peoples convicted of felonies while on parole. The results of the current research will be leveraged to continue the expansion of voting rights to incarcerated people via bill proposals and community organizing in the next legislative session in 2024.