Nash Correctional Institution Population Casts Ballots in Mock Election

NASHVILLE, NC – Cris Gardner and Joseph Lee are among the many who want to participate in this, or any, election. However, as offenders at Nash Correctional Institution and others in North Carolina state prisons, both men by law will not have the opportunity to vote until they complete their sentence, which includes post-release supervision.

Just because Gardner and Lee are in prison doesn’t mean they didn’t want to vote or didn’t care about the national and statewide elections. They, like many other offenders, have seen the constant televised political advertisements and wondered why their facility couldn’t hold a “mock” election as their own way to participate.

They met with facility Program Supervisor Alpha Herring in July to see if they could set up a facility election, as well as come up with a demographic survey that would be published in the offender newspaper, The Nash News. Warden Talena Lee and her staff were always looking for new ways to engage the offenders and, in a couple of months, ballots and “I voted” stickers were produced at the Correction Enterprises print plant on site.

“When (the idea) was brought to me if they could do it, I thought, ‘why not,’” Warden Lee said. “This past year has been a time of concern for many Americans. These fellows see the cause and effect. They see the inflation, they see how it affects their families, they watch the news and see what’s going on. For several of them, they never got the opportunity to vote or never took the opportunity to vote and know they may not ever have the opportunity to vote.

“In institutions, it’s good to give offenders and opportunity to taste freedom, whether it’s a holiday meal, a talent show when they can laugh a little bit or a mock election where for a few minutes they can pretend they are a citizen on the other side of these walls. They see all the political ads … and how helpless they must feel knowing their opinion doesn’t matter.” 

Non-partisan flyers with information were provided by ncvoter.org in every building at the prison so offenders could learn about the candidates’ positions on various issues. Plans were made to set up the gymnasium as a voting site complete with offender “poll workers” who assisted with the process. Some were tasked to manage tables recording who came in to vote. Like a state election, offenders had to show their prison IDs in order to vote.

“Overall, this was a cool thing to do,” said Herring. “These are just normal guys. They’re not monsters. They’re interested in where candidates stand on the issues and the ideology of the governor’s race. We’ve tried to stay as close as possible to the political process as we can.”

Nash Correctional held its election on Oct. 21. Individual pods were brought in to allow voting at circular tables and desks spread throughout the gymnasium. Once the offenders were finished, they deposited their ballots into a “ballot box” and then they could receive a bag of freshly made popcorn and an “I voted” sticker for their effort. The vast majority put the stickers on their clothing and walked away with smiles.

After the event, the ballots were taken to the Correction Enterprises print plant, where they were tallied. The results were posted the day after the real election. Nash’s results were as follows:

Gardner and Joseph Lee, who also write for The Nash News, walked around the room speaking with the poll workers and gathered information. Their interactions with offenders brought more smiles and discussions about issues people face.

“This is a great way to see how we look like (votes) compared to nationally,” Joseph Lee said. “In this election, it’s becoming clear that some states are well established as to what is going to happen. Some small voting blocs in key areas are going to have significant influence on the outcome of the election. Moving forward, formerly incarcerated people could have an influence on the election. Through this process, I hope people will learn they might be able to get their voting rights back by participating in elections.”

Gardner added, “I hope people take this seriously. There were people curious as to what we were going to do with the (demographic) data. It’s just going to us for The Nash News and not toward the real election. I hope people read the information and came in to make informed decisions. One of the things that broke my heart is that I committed the crime, have to serve the time but also know that I was not going to vote again or believe I would not be able to vote again.

“The freedoms I have lost really brought it to home for me. I’ve spoken to people about this, and they feel the same way. Just because I am incarcerated for committing a crime doesn’t mean I should not have a say in what happens to me. Especially on the local level, these decisions have a direct impact on me.”