Lawmakers in at least 14 states have proposed a wave of legislation restoring voting rights to individuals with past felony convictions, according to a recent Brennan Center for Justice report. This trend is seen in blue and red states.

On March 3, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, signed a bill into law that permits convicted felons to vote after leaving prison instead of after completing parole.

“Today, I signed a bill into law restoring voting rights for over 55,000 formerly incarcerated people – the largest expansion of voting rights in Minnesota in half a century,” Walz tweeted. “Minnesota will continue to lead in the fight to keep our elections safe, free, and fair for all.”

Felony convictions prevented approximately 4.6 million Americans from casting ballots in 2022, according to The Sentencing Project. States have imposed a variety of laws to limit voting rights for people who completed their prison sentences. Historically, this disenfranchisement has disproportionately impacted African Americans.

One day before Walz enacted Minnesota’s voting rights expansion, a similar bill in reliably Republican Nebraska advanced to the full legislature, The Omaha World-Herald reported.

Committee members voted 5-2 to move forward a measure that would eliminate the current two-year waiting period for felons to regain their voting rights. Nebraska is one of 11 states that prohibit felons from voting immediately upon completing their sentences.

Meanwhile, Florida appears to be an outlier in the trend. Lawmakers there took steps to weaken voter-approved Amendment 4 in 2018 that restored voting rights to 1.4 million past felons, except for those convicted of murder or a sexual offense, The Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, championed and signed into law a measure that blocked the voting rights expansion until former felons paid past fines and met legal financial obligations.

Florida Republicans also created a so-called election police force to investigate election fraud. The office spearheaded the arrest of 20 former felons in August for illegally casting ballots in 2020 out of more than 11 million voters. Most of them were Black and cleared to vote by state and local officials.