Bridges to the Ballot: How Loved Ones Can Mobilize Voters with Criminal Records

Link to full Submitted to American Journal of Political Science

Many Americans are eligible to vote after a felony conviction or other criminal legal contact, but few use that right. We highlight the role that close social ties to active voters can play in helping people with records become politically active. Qualitative interviews establish the strategies family members and other loved ones use to help or pressure individuals with criminal legal contact to register and vote. Administrative data on births, convictions, and voting in Texas illustrate both that these kinds of social connections to voters are widespread among those with records, and that they are highly predictive of voting. Finally, we demonstrate the causal nature of this relationship with field experiments that encourage people to help their loved ones with criminal records register and vote. These findings point to new ways to activate voters with previous convictions, as well as other groups of unlikely or hard-to-reach voters.