As of January, thousands of District residents who are incarcerated in federal prisons on felony convictions would have their rights to vote restored under legislation the D.C. Council is slated to adopt this summer. Currently, Washingtonians with felony records only have their rights to vote restored after completing their sentences.

The provision, which would have the nation’s capital join Maine, Vermont, and Puerto Rico in completely eliminating felony disenfranchisement, is tucked in a budget package the council’s judiciary committee unanimously advanced Thursday.

In a preliminary report accompanying that package, the committee says allowing incarcerated residents to vote in both local and federal elections would “course-correct” D.C.’s criminal justice policy and strengthen racial equity.

“The District of Columbia has one of the highest, if not the highest, incarceration rates of any U.S. state—and, although Black and Brown people make up less than half the population, they make up 96 percent of District residents held on felony convictions in the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” the report explains.

More than 4,500 Washingtonians were incarcerated in federal facilities overseen by the U.S. prison bureau last September, WAMU reported. Different estimates have found that D.C. has between 930 and 1,153 incarcerees per 100,000 residents, putting it in the top five nationally when compared with states.

But the District lacks full control over its criminal justice system as a result of its complex relationship with the federal government and previous fiscal woes. For the last two decades, residents sentenced for felonies have been sent to various federal institutions across the country, an arrangement that advocates and families say makes reintegration particularly difficult. Nearly two-thirds are housed at facilities outside Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, NBC Washington found in 2019.

The legislation is based on a previous bill authored by At-Large Councilmember Robert White and co-introduced by all 13 members of the council at the time. A hearing on White’s legislation took place last October and saw wide support for full enfranchisement.

“The consequences of civil death have a deep-rooted connection to communities of color targeted by the criminal justice system,” Tyrone Walker, who served a felony sentence, testified at the hearing. “Its effects are felt across generations and continue to devastate the lives of those in my community.”

How the restoration of voting rights would be implemented at federal facilities—and how quickly—remains to be seen. The draft bill would require the D.C. Board of Elections to “endeavor to provide” voter guides, registration forms, and absentee ballots to federally incarcerated residents, suggesting that prison officials wield a lot of power in facilitating the right to vote for incarcerees.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ “willingness to participate in ensuring District residents’ voting rights—or simply respond to requests for information—is impossible to predict and cannot be compelled,” Kevin Donahue, D.C.’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, said last year.

Under the bill, the elections board would also have to report on its implementation progress to District lawmakers by April 2023.

The provision follows action the council took as part of broader criminal justice reforms earlier this month. Passed on an expedited basis, those reforms restored voting rights for residents with felony records who are held at the D.C. Jail. (Before, only residents with misdemeanor records were permitted to vote from the jail, which is run by the D.C. Department of Corrections.) The budget legislation would make that restoration permanent.

“[F]elony disenfranchisement laws do not serve any of the four goals of the criminal justice system: incapacitation, deterrence, retribution, or rehabilitation,” says the committee report. “[D]isenfranchisment … is counterproductive to the goal of rehabilitation of those returning to society from incarceration and results in so-called ‘civic death.'”

The entire council is expected to consider the District’s full budget for next fiscal year starting next week. Votes on the budget are scheduled through July.