Felon voting ban in North Carolina is racially motivated and unconstitutional, judges rule

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North Carolina’s felon voting ban law barring many people with felony records from voting after they get out of prison is now deemed unconstitutional, a state court ruled Monday.

Felon voting ban law is unconstitutional

A panel of three superior court judges in Wake County, NC ruled in a 2-1 decision that people with criminal records can vote once they have rejoined society and are no longer behind bars.

The judges wrote that “if a person otherwise eligible to vote is not in jail or prison for a felony conviction, they may lawfully register and vote in North Carolina.”

The state law previously allowed people with felony convictions to vote only once they finish their sentence. Not only including their prison sentence but also any probation or parole, which sometimes can last for years after someone is released from prison.

Disenfranchisement

The judges found the felon voting ban law unconstitutional for generally violating people’s rights, but also for being explicitly targeted towards Black people.

Specifically, they wrote that the law “was enacted with the intent of discriminating against African American people and has a demonstrably disproportionate and discriminatory impact.”

Community Success Initiative sued the state in 2019 to strike down the state law. Lawyers for the initiative argued that keeping people from voting upon release from prison violated the state Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Free Elections Clause, and that the law was written in the 1970s with a racist intentions.

“This landmark decision is the largest expansion of voting rights in NC since the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Daryl Atkinson, lead attorney in the case, told The News & Observer.

Plaintiffs noted serious disenfranchisement with the law, disproportionately affected Black residents, which account for 21% of the state’s voting age population and 42% of those denied the right to vote because of the law.

“In total, 1.24% of the entire African American voting-age population in North Carolina are denied the franchise due to felony probation, parole, or post- release supervision, whereas only 0.45% of the White voting-age population are denied the franchise,” according to Monday’s ruling.

Republican lawmakers who defended the case argued there is no racial disparity in the law because “100% of felons of every race in North Carolina” were banned from voting until they completed probation or parole, but the court majority dismissed the argument.

Ultimately, the court found that “when the General Assembly prescribes by law the manner in which a convicted felon’s right to vote is restored, it must do so on equal terms and in a manner that ensures elections ascertain the will of the people.”

News & Observer reported that around 55,000 people will be affected by the law being overturned.

Photo by Edmond Dantès: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-dropping-a-paper-in-a-box-7103206/