Meet Lucinda Cross, The Black Woman Who Ensures Formerly Incarcerated People Know Their Right To Vote

Lucinda Cross is leading the initiative to ensure formerly incarcerated individuals know their voting rights and register to vote.

Cross officially launched her nonprofit, Activate Your Life, in 2015. She helps formerly incarcerated women and youth between the ages of 18 and 24 reenter society. She noticed an alarming trend within this community: people who served time in prison didn’t know they could vote.

“I was constantly hearing, ‘I can’t vote, I’m not allowed to vote, or I have a felony,’” she tells BLACK ENTERPRISE

“Just hearing that individuals weren’t aware that serving time […] I knew I had to do something.”

According to Cross, more than 600,000 people across the United States are released from prison every year, and many are eligible to vote.

“That’s a big piece of the pie that’s missing in the electorate,” she says.

“In some states, you never lose the right, including Washington, D.C.,  Maine,  and Vermont. In other states, your rights are restored right after you serve your time.”

She recognizes states like Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, and Kentucky are more strict about restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated citizens, but her goal is to educate people about how to participate in the democratic process through her nonprofit.