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Registering Justice-Involved Voters

CJCJ’s 2023 CJ’s 2023 Voter Restoration Outreach is in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Elections. The mission of the Department of Elections (Department) is to provide equitable access to voting and election-related services and to conduct free, fair, and functional elections for the City and County of San Francisco.

CJCJ will be offering tailored, multi-format, and multilingual election education and voter registration presentations to a broad number of justice-impacted individuals in San Francisco. Our team will present this information in-person and on the web to local organizations and agencies that service justice-involved populations. Please reach out to us if you would like us if you are a justice-involved CBO, community space, or alliance in the SF area and would like us to present to you all. 

Eligibility Requirements

You can register to vote and vote if you are:

  • A United States citizen and a resident of California,
  • 18 years old or older on Election Day,
  • Not currently serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony, and
  • Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court (for more information, please see Voting Rights: Persons Subject to Conservatorship).

If you meet these requirements, you can register to vote even if you are:

  • Awaiting trial, on parole, or on probation
  • In jail serving a misdemeanor sentence
  • In jail as a condition of probation
  • Serving a felony jail sentence
  • On mandatory community supervision
  • On post-release community supervision
  • On federal supervised release
  • Under a juvenile warship adjudication 

Facts on Voting with a Criminal History

The below information is from the San Francisco Department of Elections. You can also check your eligibility to vote and/​or voter status in California here.

  1. Unless you are serving a felony prison term, your criminal history will not affect your right to vote.
  2. You can register to vote at register to vote​.cal​i​for​nia​.gov or use a paper registration form. Registration forms are available at public libraries and many government offices. 
  3. If you are experiencing homelessness you can still register and vote. You can provide a location such as cross streets, a park, or a shelter as your home address on our registration form. You can also provide any mailing address to receive election materials.
  4. If you are unable to travel or vote by mail, you can get your ballot delivered and picked up. You can let someone else pick up your ballot from the City Hall voting center. You can also let someone else return your marked ballot for you. And then emergency, our staff can also deliver or pick up your ballot.
  5. If you are currently serving a felony prison term, you can register to vote upon your release. Your right to vote gets restored immediately after you finish your term. 

You can also get work experience and earn up to $295 while serving as a poll worker on Election Day. Go to sfelec​tions​.org/poll worker or contact sfelec​tions​.org to learn more.

If you or someone you know lives in San Francisco, has a criminal history, and wants to vote, you can also contact San Francisco Department of Elections directly for support at (415) 5544375.

Our Voter Restoration project in action at CJCJ’s Came House program and the 11th Annual SF San Francisco, CA Restorative Justice Reentry Conference, Resource and Job Fair.

Contact our Voter Restoration Project

Do you have questions about our Voter Restoration Project? Would you like to have us present or table at your space? If so, contact information is below.

Gerald Miller
Director of Community-Based Services
(415) 4152400475 (phone)
gerald@​cjcj.​org