People with felony convictions can now vote in Minnesota; secretary of state celebrates

@ap.news Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon, left, claps after registering newly eligible voters while Antonio Williams, a new voter and formerly incarcerated person, raises his fist in the air in celebration, Thursday, June 1, 2023, at Arlington Hills Community Center in St. Paul, Minn. The state’s new law allows people with felony convictions to vote, as long as they are no longer incarcerated. (AP Photo/Trisha Ahmed)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — People are celebrating Minnesota’s new law that restores voting rights to people who have left prison. Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon registered newly eligible voters Thursday. That’s the day the law went into effect. Simon is the state’s chief election official. He said this is the state’s largest single act of enfranchisement in over 50 years. The new law allows people with felony convictions to vote, as long as they are not currently incarcerated. It expands voting rights to at least 55,000 people in Minnesota. Formerly incarcerated people spoke and cheered at the event, then registered to vote.