Some 56,000 North Carolina felons who are on parole, probation, or supervised release, will have their voting rights restored, a judicial panel said on Monday. The 2–1 ruling, in a state Superior Court in Raleigh, immediately reinstates voting rights to North Carolina residents convicted of felonies but whose current punishments don’t include prison time. The decision followed a lawsuit filed by several civil rights groups and ex-offenders against legislative leaders and state officials in November 2019 on behalf of six individuals and nonprofit organizations. They argued the current 1973 law is unconstitutional by denying the right to vote to people who have completed their active sentences or received no such sentence, such as people on probation. They also said the rules disproportionately affect black residents. The North Carolina State Board of Elections issued a statement saying that the decision means it “must immediately begin to permit such individuals to register …
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