(KNSI) – Minnesota lawmakers have passed a bill to let convicted felons vote before they complete their sentence.
The Restore the Vote bill passed in the Senate on Tuesday night 35-30 and is on its way to the governor’s desk, where he says he will sign it. The House already approved the measure.
The law allows felons to cast a ballot as soon as they get out of prison instead of requiring them to complete their parole first. In Minnesota, when a person is sentenced, they serve two-thirds of their time in prison and the remainder of their time on supervised release.
Democrats pushed for the law saying it will help reintegrate former inmates, who they say are disproportionately people of color, back into society. Republicans say the law is soft on crime and gives convicted felons the right to vote no matter what they were convicted of.
The law comes less than a week after the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the state’s current restrictions on felons voting and left it up to the Legislature to change.
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