CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In an emergency meeting Thursday, members of the North Carolina State Board of Elections asked for more guidance from the courts in regards to allowing people who've finished felony prison sentences but are still serving probation or parole the right to vote.
A divided three-judge panel ruled Monday that people leaving prison with a felony conviction and are on parole or probation should be eligible to vote.
But the BOE instructed all 100 county election officials not to approve applications from these individuals just yet.
"Our state board is trying to make certain they have everything correct, so that we're not starting something and stopping something," said Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections. "So I applaud them for that."
Dickerson said all voters should continue to register for the upcoming primary on May 17, regardless of their status.
At the heart of the conflict is a 1973 law that requires the “unconditional discharge of an inmate, of a probationer, or of a parolee” before their voting rights can be restored. That means a felony offender who is released from jail or prison or doesn’t serve time behind bars must wait until after their monitoring by public safety officials — perhaps for several years — to return to the ballot box.
Republican legislative leaders, along with the BOE, were sued over the law in 2019 by ex-offenders and civil rights groups. Plaintiffs in that case won a brief change to the policy last year, allowing some people to register as soon as they left prison.
But the North Carolina Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court put that on hold while the case continued.
Regardless, the twists and turns in the last year have caused confusion about who can and cannot register. If a felon on probation or parole registers to vote and is not eligible, they could be charged with a crime.
In a statement from the Thursday emergency BOE meeting, Chairman Damon Circosta said in a statement, "The board will establish for the benefit of the court the urgency of the situation and timelines that should be contemplated in light of the April 22 voter registration deadline for the May 17 primary,” Circosta said in his statement. “Any voter registration applications filed by affected individuals are pending. We will take action on those following direction from the court.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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