- Democracy is not a spectator sport, so said activist, Marian Wright Edelman.

But depending on where you live, it can be, if you've been convicted of a felony.

(dramatic music) Today, laws in at least 48 states have bans or restrictions on voting for those with felony convictions.

That's roughly 4.6 million Americans, one out of every 50 adults who are not eligible to vote.

And for Black Americans, the numbers are even worse.

One in every 10 adults has lost the right to vote because of a felony conviction.

Many of those convictions are for nonviolent drug charges.

The long history of discrimination and racial bias has led to a disproportionately higher rate of arrest and incarceration for Black males.

The result, fewer Black voters.

That's one reason roughly 20 states have passed laws recently that restored voting rights or loosened restrictions on voting rights for convicted felons.

State to state, here's roughly how that comes down.

In three states, convicted felons never lose their rights to vote, even while incarcerated.

In 22 states, convicted felons regain their right to vote once they're released from prison.

In 15 states, convicted felons can regain voting rights after incarceration, plus parole and probation times and some other states make felons wait even longer.

11 states bar convicted felons indefinitely if they have been convicted for certain crimes such as murder and rape.

Today the right to vote has been restored to at least 1.4 million people nationwide.

The pushback?

Critics say someone convicted of a felony has stopped being a responsible citizen.

Figuring out what your voting rights are and how to go about exercising them can be a challenge.

Take Florida, for example.

In 2018, voters approved a constitutional amendment that restored voting rights to felons who had completed their sentences.

But then Florida State Senate passed a law requiring felons to pay all court fees related to their convictions before they could vote.

The result, nearly a million people who have completed their sentences are still unable to vote.

And after the 22 midterms in Florida, dozens of former felons who thought they were eligible to vote actually were not.

They now face charges of voter fraud.

For many, the right to vote is fundamental to our American citizenship, but it is not a guaranteed right.

So the debate continues.

Once felony sentences are served, is restoring voting rights the right thing to do?

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