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Ohio's milestone moment for women in government; Price growth ticked up in November as inflation progress stalls; NE public housing legal case touches on quality of life for vulnerable renters; California expert sounds alarm on avian flu's threat to humans, livestock.

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Debates on presidential accountability, the death penalty, gender equality, Medicare and Social Security cuts; and Ohio's education policies highlight critical issues shaping the nation's future.

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Many rural counties that voted for Trump also cast ballots against school vouchers and to protect abortion rights, Pennsylvania's Black mayors are collaborating to unite their communities and unique methods are being tried to address America's mental health crisis.

Study highlights felony voting ban in NC and beyond amid election results

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Thursday, November 7, 2024   

With the 2024 election concluded, Donald Trump is poised to become the first president to take office while several criminal cases against him are pending. This unprecedented situation is highlighting disparities in the criminal justice system, especially regarding voting rights. New research from The Sentencing Project reveals that nearly 4 million people across the country won't be able to vote in future elections because of a felony conviction. In North Carolina, the report shows nearly 70,000 people are affected.

Nicole D. Porter, senior director of advocacy with The Sentencing Project, said the national total has come down since it peaked in 2016, but still, four million Americans are disenfranchised.

"Now, many of those people are completing their sentence inside of prison and jail." she said. "But many people are disenfranchised living in the community after incarceration. They're either on community supervision, on felony probation or parole, or they are post-sentence."

In 2022, a state court affirmed a ruling by a three-judge panel that restored voting rights to people on probation and parole, potentially allowing tens of thousands to participate in elections. However, in April 2023, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned that decision, again disenfranchising those on community supervision across the state.

The report also highlights racial disparities in felony convictions and reveals that across the country, one in 22 Black people of voting age is disenfranchised, a rate more than triple that of non-African Americans. She added that some Jim Crow-era laws in North Carolina have discriminating practices that keep many Black and brown people from voting in the state.

"Because of the underlying punitive practices that contribute to mass incarceration and over-incarceration in the Black and brown communities, and that extends to even post-incarceration, post-sentence," she continued.

The report also shows new data on women being marginalized because of felony convictions. It estimates nationwide that approximately 764,000 women make up nearly one-fifth of the total disenfranchised population.


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