RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that a North Carolina law that made it a crime for felony offenders who vote before they have completed their sentences without knowing they were breaking the law is unconstitutional.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously upheld a trial judge’s decision that found the law was discriminatory and harmed Black ex-defendants disproportionately.

At issue was a law against voting by felony offenders who were still serving sentences. In 2023, lawmakers updated the law so that, starting in January 2024, a person convicted of a felony had to know it was against the law to vote for it to be considered a crime.

But the old law wasn’t repealed and became the focus of the lawsuit originally filed in 2020. The pla

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