This midterm election could be the first year that formerly incarcerated New Yorkers have their voice heard since their convictions due to a 2021 law that reformed voting laws in the state.

Perry Grossman, a supervising attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, told Capital Tonight that the state’s old laws were “pretty complicated but it’s actually pretty straight forward now. If you’re out, you vote.”

In 2021, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that automatically restored suffrage to formerly incarcerated New Yorkers that are on parole. This legislation came after a 2018 executive order from Cuomo that returned suffrage on a case by case basis. Grossman argues that allowing formerly incarcerated people to vote is a “categorical good” and adds that civic engagement can assist a “sustainable rehabilitation.”

About 35,000 formerly incarcerated voters became eligible for restored suffrage after the 2018 executive order. Grossman said about 1,000 people are released onto parole every month leading to newly eligible voters.

Grossman said that these formerly incarcerated New Yorkers will need to re-register to vote once they are released because they were likely purged from the voter rolls when they were first convicted.

The last chance that New Yorkers have to cast their ballot in-person on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.