Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC)

VAAC also focuses its advocacy on those in jail awaiting arraignment, trial, or sentencing. The group claims that voting from county jails still occurs in the state of Michigan but not in a common or consistent manner. When the group cannot identify the jail voting program of a particular jurisdiction, it contacts jail administrators, county clerks and other nonprofits to push jail voting programs. ³

VAAC also engages in outreach to inform Michigan residents with felony convictions, or who are on parole, that they have the right to vote. The group reaches out to convicted felons to discuss the importance of voting while instructing them on how to register or use absentee ballots. ⁴

Background

The Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC) is an electoral advocacy group that promotes increased voting rights and ballot access for incarcerated and previously incarcerated individuals in Michigan. ¹ VAAC asserts, “Yes, you can vote, even if you have a felony, are on probation, or are awaiting arraignment, trial or sentencing, regardless of your incarceration status.”  ⁵

VAAC was founded in 2020 by Michigan state criminal justice policy activists, who claimed there was a need to educate state residents who had been released from incarceration on their voting rights.  ⁵ VAAC operates statewide in Michigan, but focuses on the counties of Wayne, in the Detroit area; Oakland, Washtenaw, and Genesee counties in the Flint area, Kent County, in the Grand Rapids area; and Macomb, Ingham, and Berrien counties.  ² The organization advocates increased voting within state and county prisons, while further claiming to promote policies towards “ending prison gerrymandering in Michigan.” ⁶

The coalition claims to oppose “voter suppression” caused by lack of knowledge on the ability to vote despite having a criminal record. ¹ The coalition’s core values are “inclusivity;” “empowerment;” “respect;” “accessibility;” and “community building.”  ² According to VAAC’s website, the coalition member groups work to ensure “that all persons in pretrial situations, individuals about to be released from prison, and those formerly incarcerated, along with their families and community members, have the opportunity and knowledge they need to exercise their right to vote in every election.”  ¹

Angela Davenport is the executive director of VAAC as of 2025. ⁷ Davenport was previously arrested after a mental health crisis caused by the death of her father. She claims to have been traumatized by her detention experience. She previously earned an associate’s degree in humanities and a bachelor’s degree in strategic communications and media studies from New York University. ⁸

Coalition Members

As of 2025, members of the Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC) include A Brighter Way, Get 2 Seven, MI-CURE, Nation Outside, S&D PJH Housing, the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, American Friends Service Committee Michigan Criminal Justice Program, Humanity for Prisoners, Michigan Liberation, the Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network; Vote by Jail, the State Appellate Defender Office and Criminal Defense Center, the Washtenaw County Clark’s Office, Friends of Restorative Justice, the League of Women Voters of Michigan, MI-CEMI, the People Reaching Out And Coming Together Increasing Voter Empowerment (P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E.) Project, and Safe and Just Michigan . ⁹

Activities

The Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC) advocates programs and policies that promote voting rights for those incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and on probation.  ² Previous activities by VAAC include educating on voting rights, hosting re-entry and jail-based voter registration drives, and building coalitions of activists previously incarcerated.   ⁷

The organization also provides social goods and services such as meals, hygiene kits, transportation, and voter support. It also provides civic education, advocacy, and leadership development for people in the criminal justice system such as registering formerly-incarcerated people to vote, training youth activists, and supporting civic engagement within prisons. ²

VAAC also works with previously-incarcerated individuals, members of the homeless population, “low-income Black and Brown communities,” people with literacy disability, those with technology access issues, youth in foster care; and families of incarcerated people.  ² In 2024, the Coalition launched an online video series to promote voting to increase leniency in the criminal legal system in Michigan. The series had two compilation videos and seven shorter individual videos on the group website as of 2025. ⁵

In 2022, VAAC worked with jail officials and election officials in Michigan’s counties to push a “Vote by Mail in Jail” program, which claimed to assist and teach incarcerated individuals how to register to vote, how to vote, and how to request an absentee ballot. The program also provided voter education materials and hosted “Jailed Voter Information Sessions.” ¹⁰

Also in 2022, VAAC held a webinar for county clerks to promote increased voter registration among eligible voters who were incarcerated.  ¹⁰ That same year, in Genesee County, Michigan, the sheriff’s office held a candidates’ forum in jail featuring candidates on the ballot.  ¹⁰

In 2020, Voting Access for All Coalition held a webinar for Michigan county clerks about finding ways to register jailed voters across state. ¹¹ That same year, VAAC worked with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan to advocate that Michigan sheriffs protect the right to vote for those who are incarcerated statewide and awaiting trial. ¹²

The VAAC previously partnered with the League of Women Voters of Ann Arbor Area to produce a 17-minute video for providing voter information to those incarcerated and previously-incarcerated on how to register and vote.  ¹³ The VAAC also creates flyers and posters about how incarcerated individuals can vote.  ⁴