Volunteers help Virginia inmates to vote www.privateofficer.com

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Virginia Beach VA Nov 5 2012 Inspired by voting registration efforts elsewhere in thestate, M. Ruth Snider, a volunteer with the nonprofit advocacy group VirginiaOrganizing asked Sheriff Ken Stolle, who runs the jail, whether she couldcreate a voting program for his inmates. He agreed, and on Oct. 10, Snider andseveral sheriff's deputies helped 15 eligible inmates register to vote. They'vebeen working ever since to help those inmates - and others who were alreadyregistered - complete and mail absentee ballots.
As of Friday, 55 Virginia Beach inmates had cast their votes, said Lt. RobJamison, a sheriff's deputy who helped organize the project. Snider said sheexpects that number to nearly double by the 7 p.m. deadline tomorrow.
The program is the first of its kind in Virginia Beach and appears to be the onlyinmate voting program in South Hampton Roads. In most other local jails,inmates must request, complete and mail an absentee ballot on their own,according to spokespersons for those facilities. Hampton Roads Regional Jailstaff provide the absentee ballot application to everyone who is locked up,said the jail's assistant superintendant, Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor.
The Portsmouth City Jail tried offering voting programs inthe past, but there wasn't much interest, said Lt. Lee Cherry, a jailspokesman.
"A lot of the people sitting there are convicted felonsand they cannot vote anyway," he said. "It just seems like anexercise in futility."
Stolle and Snider said they plan to continue the program -which cost VirginiaOrganizing only postage - even in years when the presidency isn't up for grabs.During the general election in November 2009, only one Virginia Beach inmate registered to vote viaabsentee ballot, according to a list from the State Board of Elections.
"A lot of people are going to wonder why are wespending money to try to get people who have committed crimes to vote,"Stolle said. "If they're eligible to vote, they have just as much right tovote as anybody."
Source:pilotonline.com