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Luca Mellon is a prison advocate who organizes with incarcerated Mainers for voting rights, legislative access, and sentencing reform.
I appreciate the efforts the Maine Democratic Party put into planning an accessible convention to select a new candidate for U.S. Senate. Over 600 members will cast their votes at this convention, with disabled members participating remotely. As a part of the party’s commitment to inclusion, they took care to ensure that “no individual is denied the opportunity to take part in the Convention … as a result of any physical disability.”
If only physical disability were the sole barrier to voting in Maine. Ours is one of two states where people can enroll in a political party and vote while incarcerated. Will Democrats be able to participate in this convention from the inside of a detention facility?
Maybe. Incarcerated Democrats with internet access could nominate themselves as county delegates, but it’s unclear if they’ll be able to vote remotely to elect their county’s delegates. What is clear from the party’s plan is that only disabled delegates can participate remotely – not incarcerated delegates.
I admire the dedication of Democrats who enroll from prison in a party that doesn’t grant them full and equal membership. The Maine Democratic Party’s charter doesn’t even consider prison voters “historically underrepresented.” Is “underrepresented” too generous a term for their practical invisibility in party caucuses and conventions?
Another section of the party’s charter prohibits 10 forms of discrimination, none of which relate to carceral status. Indeed, this legislative session proved to me that vociferous resistance to criminal justice reforms in our state consistently comes from legislators on both sides of the aisle.
Can incarcerated Democrats really expect “full and equal participation” in this party? At the very least, the Maine Democratic Party should fully include incarcerated members to achieve its own stated diversity goals.
If Maine’s state prisons constituted their own municipality, that community would have a higher percentage of Black residents than Lewiston does. Even then, the Democratic Party’s commitment to Black voters would carry more weight if accompanied by a concurrent commitment to incarcerated voters. After all, the barriers that both communities face regarding voting today are rooted in our nation’s shameful tradition of enslaving Black Africans. How will we heal one without the other?
As part of the process to qualify, Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate will submit a statement describing how they will ensure that no Mainer is left behind. The real question is: How would Maine’s Democratic Party answer that question?