New York City lawmakers are pushing to overhaul how people jailed on Rikers Island cast their votes after just 335 of roughly 6,000 eligible detainees cast absentee ballots in the last general election, officials said Tuesday.
Lawmakers want to make it easier for people in custody to request absentee ballots and get information about candidates. They are also advancing legislation that would require the Department of Correction to help voters fix or replace ballots with errors – while mandating new public reporting on how many ballots are submitted, corrected or rejected.
Despite a push by advocates to boost voter participation last year, just 621 detainees even requested ballots, according to the Board of Elections.
“There’s a large population eligible to vote that’s not even requesting a ballot,” said Queens City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán. “There’s a lot of room for improvement. That’s the basis for legislation here — to really pick up those numbers.”
Lawmakers and advocates say the most sweeping change would establish polling sites on Rikers Island, arguing it’s the only reliable way to ensure voting for people in custody.
Lockups in Cook County, Ill.; Washington, D.C. and some spots in Colorado have installed polling sites with great results, they say.
Michael Ryan, executive director of the Board of Elections, said creating polling sites would require state legislation.
“The board is not permitted to depart from statutory authority or substitute its independent judgment for the law,” he told the Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations.
Ryan noted that about 54% of ballots requested by people on Rikers were returned in the 2025 general election, compared to roughly 73% citywide.
“So, it’s off the mark but a lot of people don’t return their ballots whether they are held in custody or not,” he testified.
The four-hour hearing at the Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations comes as President Donald Trump and Republican allies try to drastically limit the use of mail-in ballots nationally ahead of the midterm elections.
In New York City, voting rights activists try to visit each jail on Rikers at least once a year.
But advocates and lawmakers argued that volunteers alone are not able to boost the voting ranks among those held in custody.
“Voting is our most basic right,” said Councilmember Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), the committee’s chairperson. “But on Rikers Island very few people appear able to exercise that right.”
Most of the approximately 7,000 detainees on Rikers are eligible to vote, according to advocacy groups. The majority are being held in pretrial detention and have not been convicted.
Currently, detainees can only vote via absentee or early mail ballots. They must request those ballots via snail mail or an online portal. Once the applications are approved, the ballots are delivered through the mail or by correction staff.
Mail on Rikers moves slow thanks to security checks and the process can drag for weeks. Many detainees are released or transferred to state prisons before their ballots arrive.
And any issues with the ballots are nearly impossible to fix, according to lawmakers and advocates.
In the June 2024 primary, of 155 early and absentee ballots delivered to detainees on Rikers, only 72 were deemed legitimate and counted, according to Brewer.
The Voting on Rikers Working Group suggests updating curriculum to educate detainees, said Nell Colón, deputy corrections commissioner for programs and community partnerships.
Representatives from the Board of Elections haven’t attended a single meeting since October 2025, Brewer noted.
Ryan said that was because board staff were tending to the upcoming elections. He said they were in constant communication with jail officials.
Detainees can access information on how to register and who is running on handheld tablets provided by jail staff.
Still, the “biggest driver” of voting among detainees is in-person contact with volunteers or specially trained correction staff, Colón said. She said the department plans to boost its voter registration drives.
“Do not think this is the end of the conversation,” Brewer said after city officials finished testifiying. “We are really really serious about getting 5,000 people eligible to vote.”
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