Prisoners' right to vote: what are the new modalities?

Prisoners, who have not been sentenced to a sentence depriving them of their civil rights, can exercise their right to vote by 3 means:

• by going to their polling station, as part of a one-day temporary absence (this permission cannot be granted to a person sentenced to a prison term of more than 5 years, until he has completed half of it);
• by using the proxy voting ;
• by voting by post. To use this means of voting, the detainee must apply to be registered on the electoral list of the commune capital of the department where the prison is located. Detainees can then cast their votes by voting before polling day, by mail, in the prison.

A law of 18 July 2025 reformed the voting procedures for prisoners. The new rules will apply starting with the municipal elections in march 2026. As of this election, detainees will no longer be able to vote by mail during the elections. local elections (municipal, departmental, regional) and during the parliamentary elections. During these elections, they will only be able to vote as part of a temporary absence or using the proxy voting procedure.

Detainees will still be able to use the 3 means of voting (by proxy, at the polling station during a temporary absence and by post) during the following elections:

• the presidential election;
• the European elections;
• referendums.

An evolution relating to the registration on the electoral list of a commune

The law of 18 July 2025 also provides that, as regards voting by proxy or at a polling station, a detainee may, from March 2026, be registered in a commune where one of his descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren) was born, is registered or has been registered on the electoral list.

In order to vote by proxy or at a polling station, an imprisoned person must in principle be registered in the commune of his domicile, or of his last residence, provided that he has lived there for at least 6 months.

By way of derogation, she may already be entered on the electoral list of certain municipalities, in particular that of her birth or the municipality in which her husband, partner of Civil partnerships or common-law partner is entered.