Barriers remain for formerly incarcerated to vote

St. Louisans share stories amid new report of state disenfranchisement

When he was 16, St. Louis native Bobby Bostic permanently lost his right to vote, before he ever had it in the first place. 

Bostic, a motivational speaker and author, was convicted of robbery and served 27 years in prison before being let out on lifetime parole. According to a law in the state constitution, Bostic cannot register to vote in any election in Missouri.

“I will be punished for the rest of my life for a mistake I made when I was 16,” Bostic said.

According to Missouri law, those who have completed their prison sentence, but remain on parole or probation are barred from casting their ballot in national, state, and local elections. 

Missouri is among 15 states that practice the law. The state ranks among some of the highest disenfranchisement rates in the country, disenfranchising between 0.5% to 1.9% of its population, according to a 2024 study by the sentencing project. The national average was 1.7%.

Bostic said the law is unconstitutional, seeing that he pays taxes on his property and earnings. He said every election season he hopes to see a change in the current statute that would allow incarcerated juveniles to regain their right to vote, a second chance to reintegrate into the world outside of prison. 

“If we were counted, our votes could make a difference,” he said. 

“Regaining my voting rights restored my hope and faith that what I am saying and doing counts.”

Lamont Roberts

Lamont Roberts and his wife voted in South St. Louis on Tuesday. The couple owns a convenience store in the Walnut Park East neighborhood.

Back in 2000, Roberts said he was caught with drugs, weapons, and tampering with a motor vehicle, for which he served a four-year prison sentence.

In 2005, he re-entered the system and stayed in prison until 2012. He spent five years on parole and regained his right to vote in 2017. He voted for the first time since his sentence ended in the 2018 general election. 

“It was a feeling of relief,” he said. “I was a citizen again.” 

Roberts said the law is not solely to blame for the lack of participation of those convicted of a crime. Another barrier, he said, lies in the lack of education about when ex-felons are re-eligible to vote and how they can register. 

“It dissipates the opportunity for minorities to vote,” he said. 

Roberts’ community relies on him, and he said he uses his second chance to vote for people who will invest in his neighborhood.

“Regaining my voting rights restored my hope and faith that what I am saying and doing counts,” he said. 

Natasha Carter voted early on Friday and stood in line twice to help her elderly patient cast his ballot. She said the long lines did not bother her. 

“This election is different because I am excited to vote to save democracy,” she said. 

Carter spent a lot of her teen years in and out of prison for shoplifting and selling clothes to help take care of her mother, who used drugs. She got out of the system in 2008 when she voted for Obama in the general election. She said she did not understand the gravity of having her right to vote taken away when she was in prison. 

“When I was going to jail, I was younger,” she said. “We don’t think about the importance of voting until we get older.” 

Carter said she thinks the Missouri law that keeps incarcerated people from voting is fair, but she said when someone is released from prison, they should have their right to vote reinstated.

“It’s backwards,” she said. “To me, that’s suppressing votes. I don’t understand how a convicted felon can be a president, but we can’t vote.”

Multiple Missouri lawmakers from both parties in the state house and senate introduced legislation to restore voting rights to those on parole or probation. During the last session, Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Battlefield, sponsored SB 1199; Rep. Melanie Stinnett, R-Springfield, introduced HB 1927, and Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins, D-St. Louis, introduced HB 2201. The bills have not made any headway since then.

But the problem stems further than the law, Roberts said. He sees a lot of formerly incarcerated people living on the streets in his community. He wants to see more from politicians who can invest in city neighborhoods to create more affordable living for those trying to reintegrate after their sentence. 

“You can’t register to vote if you have no house,” he said. 

The number of people who were in prison and now are re-eligible to vote is low, Roberts said, but he wants to inspire other ex-felons to vote, despite all the barriers they may face along the way. 

“We can control the politics in our neighborhoods,” Roberts said. “Nobody can save us but us.”