The Daily Targum reports:

Pierce said he hopes to tear down barriers set against [formerly incarcerated people] that make it difficult for them to re-enter society, obtain housing and employment.

Despite this, he believes the greatest concern for newly released inmates is the restoration of their voting rights — the last time Pierce voted was 1985. 

New Jersey is among other states considering legislation that would allow people who are incarcerated, on parole and under probation supervision the right to vote, according to The Wall Street Journal. If passed, the Garden State would be the third in the country to pass such a bill behind Vermont and Maine. 

While most states restore voter rights upon completion of an inmates sentence, some do not immediately renew these rights. 

Florida, Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia do not automatically restore voting rights once an inmate has graduated from their sentence. Florida’s laws, especially, have been deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge — and even earned a spot on satirical late-night show “Last Week Tonight” — for being “nonsensical” and a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, according to National Public Radio (NPR).