Ex-con brings ballot box behind bars...Parish Prison drive signs up 700 voters

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Tuesday, September 07, 2004
By Michael Perlstein
Staff writer


When Norris Henderson and his entourage walked into Orleans Parish Prison last month with a box of voter registration applications, the response from inmates was hardly welcoming.

"You trying to run some kind of game on us?"


"Everybody knows inmates can't vote."

"I ain't messing with that."

The wall of skepticism began crumbling when Henderson revealed that he, and most members of his group, were former prison inmates determined to unleash the power of a virtually forgotten voting bloc: people behind bars.

Henderson, who had studied the fine print of Louisiana's voting laws, explained that any inmates not serving time on felony convictions, and not on probation or parole, could vote. In Orleans Parish Prison, that amounts to a list of about 2,000 pretrial detainees and inmates locked up on misdemeanors.

Once Henderson got his message across, his group of 20 volunteers walked away with 700 completed applications, the most successful jailhouse voter-registration drive in modern New Orleans history, according to Louis Keller, Orleans Parish registrar of voters.

"We were surprised," Keller said. "We helped with something like that back in 1999, but we ended up with less than 50 applications."

Henderson got the inmates' attention by sharing his own checkered résumé: nearly 28 years behind bars at Angola State Prison on a murder conviction. While at Angola, Henderson became a self-taught jailhouse paralegal, and among the things he learned were voter eligibility requirements for offenders.

"There's been a lot of misinformation out there," he said, "like felons automatically can't vote, or you have to wait 10 years, or you have to get a full pardon. None of that is true."

Upon his release from prison and placement on probation last year, Henderson got together with former inmates and created an organization called Voice of the Ex-Offender. The group's acronym, conveniently, is VOTE.

"These are people who have been counted out of the political process," Henderson said. "Most people think that even if they (eligible inmates) register, they won't vote. They don't realize they're dealing with a sleeping giant."

Tracy Perkins was one of the inmates who ventured from his cell to hear the group's pitch. Perkins, awaiting trial on an identity-theft charge, didn't just sign up to vote, he enthusiastically spread the word among other inmates.

"The older guys like me helped push the younger guys," said Perkins, 55. "We told them, just go out and sign the paperwork and see what it's all about. Don't be afraid to jump in the water."

Perkins was freed two weeks ago when the charge against him was dropped. Now he is counting the days until Sept. 18, a statewide election day with numerous local primaries.

"I wouldn't miss it," he said. "I only voted once before back in the late '80s. I was always told I couldn't vote because I have a previous felony. Now that I know otherwise, this is an important thing for me."

While former inmates like Perkins can cast ballots like other registered voters by simply showing up at polls, newly registered voters who are still locked up must write to the registrar's office for an absentee ballot. Keller said he hasn't received any such requests, but inmates have until Sept. 14 to request a mail-in ballot. Henderson said his group will soon be sending postcard reminders to the inmates who registered.

"This is an ongoing effort for us. The follow-up is just as important as the initial registration," Henderson said.

VOTE members don't anticipate anything close to a full voter turnout among the eligible inmates, but they do believe interest is high because of the opportunity to cast a ballot in the race for Orleans Parish criminal sheriff, the official whose main responsibility is running the prison. Interest in the race is so strong, in fact, the group is sponsoring a forum for sheriff's candidates Tuesday to be held at the prison and broadcast to most of the inmates.

"People who are incarcerated are better informed than people give them credit for," Henderson said. "Once a newspaper hits a (prison) tier, it doesn't leave until it gets passed around to all the guys."

After the fall election cycle, Henderson and his group are planning to take their voter registration efforts statewide. He said VOTE members already have made inquiries in Jefferson Parish, and Henderson has spread the word to several rural parishes through a series of radio interviews.

Another goal that is high on Henderson's agenda is to secure his own right to vote. Less than halfway through a five-year probation stemming from his 1974 murder conviction, Henderson said he will be returning to court next month to request that his probation be lifted in time to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election.

Whenever he does regain his right to vote, it will be Henderson's first time at the ballot box.

"It means a whole lot to me," he said. "Sometimes it takes a while before you benefit from the changes you help bring about."