Council hearing spotlights persistent barriers to voting at Rikers Island

A joint New York City Council oversight hearing on April 16 examined why so few eligible people detained on Rikers Island are able to vote, as council chairs, agency officials and advocates traded sharply different accounts of how registration, ballot delivery and ballot curing work in practice.

Councilmember Gail Brewer, chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, opened the hearing by noting that more than 80% of the roughly 6,700 people detained on Rikers are likely eligible to vote and that current procedures — which rely on absentee and early mail ballots — often prevent those people from exercising that right. "The physical forms must be delivered either through the postal system or by Department of Correction staff," Brewer said, and any error on the absentee envelope can lead the Board of Elections to reject a ballot.

Deputy Commissioner Nell Colon of the Department of Correction described DOC's role as facilitative: providing nonpartisan education, making voter registration and absentee forms available via staff, volunteers and tablets, and coordinating…