PANEL: NO VOTE FOR EX-CONS ON PAROLE, PROBATION

TRENTON A state appeals panel on Wednesday dealt a setback to
ex-convicts who want to vote while on probation or parole, rejecting
arguments that the law denying those rights amounted to racial discrimination.

Plaintiffs sued the state last year, claiming the law had a
discriminatory effect because most of the ex-convicts on parole or
probation are black or Latino. The groups that sued, including the
NAACP and Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, argued those
ex-convicts were denied their constitutional right to equal
protection under the law.

The state Attorney General's office successfully argued before a
lower court to dismiss the suit. The plaintiffs then appealed.

But the three-judge panel of the Appellate Division of Superior Court
said Wednesday the state Constitution denies voting rights to felons
and those considered mentally incompetent.

The law in question, the judges said, was not enacted for the
"purpose of denying suffrage to African-Americans and Hispanics. Were
that the case, we would grant relief under our doctrine of equal protection."

Frank Askin, director of Rutgers Law School's Constitutional
Litigation Clinic, who argued the case, said the unfavorable decision
was expected and would be appealed.

"It's on to the state Supreme Court," Askin said.