Although former President Donald Trump will likely be able to vote in November following his felony convictions, that's not so for millions of Americans similarly convicted on felony charges.
In 2020, before becoming president, Joe Biden promised that if he took office he would incentivize states to automatically restore voting rights for people who have served their sentences for felony convictions.
Since then, Biden has expressed support for legislation that would expand voting rights to this group, but voting rights advocates told PolitiFact they saw no efforts from the president to push this promise forward.
"We are not aware of any action taken by the White House to incentivize states to restore voting rights," Blair Bowie, director of the Restore Your Vote program at the Campaign Legal Center, a group that advocates for voting access, said.
The states, not the federal government, set laws about whether people with felony convictions lose their voting rights. In the District of Columbia, Maine and Vermont, people with felony convictions never lose their right to vote, even while incarcerated, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In about half the states, people lose voting rights only while incarcerated for felony convictions. In other states, people must meet requirements, such as paying off fines, to regain voting rights. In Florida, some people with felony records have faced a confusing, complicated process to determine how to regain their voting rights.
During the past decade, trends have turned toward states making it easier for people to regain their voting rights; this has continued during Biden's administration, including in Republican-led Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Eleven states have enacted laws to better enable incarcerated people to vote who have not stripped of their voting eligibility, for example people in county jails, according to the Voting Rights Lab, a group tracking state legislation on voting rights.
Nine states have enacted laws to provide restoration or registration information to citizens leaving custody, Voting Rights Lab found.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, signed a bill May 31 requiring county jails to create polling locations for people who are being held in jail but have not been convicted to vote in general elections.
Proponents of expanding voting rights argue that after people with convictions pay their debt to society, they should be allowed to vote. Opponents say that those who break the law should not easily earn back the right to vote.
When we asked for evidence of Biden's work on this promise, a White House spokesperson pointed to Biden's May statement in which he vowed to sign the Freedom to Vote Act. That bill states that citizens shall not be denied the right to vote because of a conviction unless they are incarcerated for a felony at the time of the election. But that bill has stalled, as has similar legislation in Congress. It is unlikely that voting rights legislation will pass this year.
The White House also pointed to a 2023 state-by-state guide to voting rights restoration the Justice Department published in response to Biden's executive order, which directed the attorney general to provide voter registration information to citizens leaving federal custody. But that guide doesn't incentivize states to change their laws.
Voting rights advocates say there are steps Biden could take to encourage states to make the ballot casting easier for people with felony convictions.
"He could be a stronger voice calling attention to these persisting policies that currently disenfranchise 4.4 million people with felony convictions including many who are in the community," said Nicole Porter, senior director of advocacy at the Sentencing Project, an organization that advocates for full inclusion in society of people with criminal records.
Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, previously told PolitiFact that the federal government could tie some streams of federal funding to states' efforts to restore voting rights to felons.
PolitiFact's promise tracking rates outcomes, not intentions. More than three years into Biden's presidency, Biden has not given states incentives to restore voting rights. We rate this promise Broken.
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