New data from researchers at Georgetown University Law Center shows the law could mean a large share of registered voters with felony records still face hurdles. The researchers identified about 14,000 people within this group who have registered to vote since the end of 2018, and among them at least 9,700, or 69%, still owed money, according to a Journal analysis of the researcher’s data.
Criminal-justice advocates sued the state and argued that adding a requirement to pay legal and financial obligations, like fees and court costs, were an illegal barrier to the ballot box. They won a favorable U.S. District Court ruling in May, but a federal appeals court ruling this month reversed that decision.
These would-be voters, who likely number in the hundreds of thousands, have faced difficulties in accurately figuring out what they owe with the registration deadline looming on Monday, advocates say.