Rapper Common tours LA jail to encourage voter registration

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- On this National Voter Registration Day, Academy Award-winning hip hop recording artist and actor Common visited Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles to help register inmates who are eligible to vote.

The tour of the nation's largest jail system was part of a partnership with the ACLU called Unlock the Vote designed to let inmates know about their voting rights.

"I personally didn't know that people in jail have the opportunity to vote," Common said. "So when I was educated on that I thought it was significant and very important for me to be here and also be a part of letting people who are part of the justice system know they have a voice and they have an opportunity to vote and speak out and be recognized as human beings."

There are more than 17,000 people incarcerated in the LA County system, and more than 63 percent of them - at least 10,000 people - are eligible to vote, according to the ACLU.

The organization has a flyer spelling out who is eligible to vote and who is not while in jail: Who has the right to vote while in LA County jail?