More than 2 million disenfranchised Americans have regained the right to vote in 26 states and the District of Columbia since 1997, according to The Sentencing Project. Mississippi is not one of those states.

In Mississippi, nearly 11% of the voting-age population — more than 235,000 people – are denied that right because of criminal convictions, the highest percentage in the country. Analyzed by race, more than 130,000 Black Mississippians, or 16 percent of the voting-age population, cannot vote.

Mississippi is one of 12 states that continues to punish citizens for past criminal convictions even after they’ve paid their debts to society and been rehabilitated, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Disenfranchisement laws, first adopted during the Colonial period to grant wealthy white male property owners the right to vote, were strategically modified after the Civil War to disenfranchise black men who were eligible to vote. Mississippi, along with other Southern states, passed laws restricting the right to vote: crimes associated mostly with Blacks were cause for disenfranchisement, while offenses associated with whites were not. For example, burglary, theft, and arson would result in disenfranchisement, while, at the time, robbery and murder would not.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against the state in 2018, asserting that the lifetime ban on voting is discriminatory because it disproportionately affects Black Mississippians. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the state’s lifetime voting ban for certain felony convictions is cruel and unusual punishment and in violation of the U.S. Constitution. It effectively overturned an 1890 section of the Mississippi Constitution and intended to restore voting rights to thousands.

Yet, those rights have still not been realized, as the State has appealed the decision, with Attorney General Lynn Fitch arguing before the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in January that the law was not meant to be punitive. According to Mississippi Today, the panel of judges has not said when it will rule on the issue, which likely will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the meantime, those convicted of 23 crimes – including bribery, theft, forgery, and murder – are permanently banned from voting, but the situation is fluid until the Court rules. Unfortunately, many formerly incarcerated Mississippians believe they have lost the right to vote when, depending on the type of offense, that is not necessarily the case.

The Sentencing Project writes that Mississippi should follow the lead of other states and reform its disenfranchisement laws with these recommendations: automatically restore voting rights to people who have completed their prison sentences, annually report the number of state residents disenfranchised and restored following a felony conviction, notify people who have completed their sentence of their right to petition for suffrage, and notify them at sentencing of the rights they will lose.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is committed to helping formerly incarcerated Mississippians retain their right to vote. Currently, there are three ways to restore those rights: by pardon of the governor, expungement of the criminal record, and by application to have voting rights restored.

To qualify, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen and Mississippi resident and at least 18 at the time of the next election. The application must be submitted at least 30 days before the election.

There are five places to register: with a local NAACP branch, a Circuit Clerk’s office, or through the Secretary of State’s website using a downloadable form that must be mailed in.

For more information or help registering, email info@uniteonevoice.org.