New York governor restores voting rights to parolees

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order Wednesday restoring voting rights to all felons on parole in the state after the Republican-led Senate rejected a similar proposal.

Why it matters: The governor's office said there are currently about 35,000 people in the state who have been barred from voting while on parole due to felony convictions. In the U.S., more than 6.1 million people have been disenfranchised due to felony convictions, according to the Sentencing Project's 2016 figures, and states vary widely on when they restore voting rights to felons.