The Tri Valley Herald reports here on a State Court of Appeal decision that those serving time in local jails are entitled to vote. The case involves a provision of the California Constitution that bars from voting those who are “imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony.” The opinion in League of Women Voters of California v. McPherson, available here, concludes that:

We agree that article II, section 4 does not apply to persons on felony probation. Where the court suspends imposition of sentence and places a defendant on probation, the defendant has not suffered a conviction for purposes of article II, section 4. In addition, where a probationer is ordered to serve time in a local facility because either imposition or execution of sentence has been suspended, he or she has not been imprisoned for the conviction of a felony, but has been confined as a condition of probation. Finally, where by virtue of Penal Code section 18, a felony offense is punishable by fine or imprisonment in county jail, and the trial court, pursuant to Penal Code section 17, subdivision (b)(1), enters judgment imposing something other than imprisonment in state prison, the crime is a misdemeanor for purpose of article II, section 4.

An ACLU spokesperson says that 100,000 people are affected.