YES Magazine

Just in time for this year’s presidential primary, a new law in Maryland will allow former offenders on probation or parole the right to vote.

Lynsi Burton

At nearly 55 years old, Baltimore resident Perry Hopkins has never seen the inside of a voting booth. During the upcoming primary election in April, he will exercise his right to vote for the first time.

During the 19 years Hopkins spent in prison for drug offenses, he was not allowed to vote. But when he got out on parole, the state still barred him from voting, under a 2007 state law that required former convicts to serve out the full terms of their sentences before regaining their right to vote.

“For so long, I had a job, I was paying taxes, but I couldn’t even choose the president, much less anything going on in Baltimore.” Continue reading 40,000 Former Convicts in Maryland Just Got New Voting Rights. Here’s How It Happened →