NorthJersey.com’s Ashley Balcerzak Reports

New Jersey is one legislative step away from letting thousands more people on parole or probation vote, after the Legislature sent a bill to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk Monday. However, lawmakers stopped short of legislation that would give voting rights to currently incarcerated people, which only two states allow.

The Senate voted 21-17 to pass a measure that would allow people convicted of an indictable offense, or felony, currently on parole or probation to vote, affecting more than 73,000 disenfranchised New Jerseyans, according to a report by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. New Jersey’s 1844 state Constitution let the Legislature deny the vote to people with criminal convictions until they finished their entire sentences, which includes parole and probation. The Assembly passed the bill 48-24 in November.