Mississippi lawmakers move toward restoring voting rights to 32 felons as broader suffrage bill dies

Mississippi legislators advanced bills Monday to give voting rights back to 32 people convicted of felonies. The move comes weeks after a Senate leader killed a broader bill that would have restored suffrage to many more people with criminal records. The bills are necessary due to Mississippi’s piecemeal approach to restoring voting rights to people convicted of felony offenses who have paid their debts to society. They also reflect the legacy of the state’s original list of disenfranchising crimes, which springs from the Jim Crow era. Mississippi is among the 26 states that remove voting rights from people for criminal convictions.