Nebraska’s highest state court upheld on Wednesday a state statute allowing felons to vote after they have served their sentence. This will allow thousands of people to cast votes in the U.S. Presidential election scheduled for Nov. 5.

The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected the claims of Republican Secretary of State Robert Evnen that the April law violated the state Constitution and ordered him implement it immediately.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented two Nebraskans who had felony convictions and sued Evnen in July after he told election officials that they would not register felons as voters. Nebraska had been allowing felons to register and vote for the past 20 years.

Evnen cited at the time an opinion from Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (a Republican) that stated the Board of Pardons and not the legislature had the exclusive power to restore felons voting rights.

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On Wednesday, the seven-member court disagreed. Some of the judges criticized Evnen because it did not enforce state law.

In a concurring view, Justice Lindsey Miller – Lerman asked: “Do we really want to live in an environment where state employees who have a suspicion that a law is flawed can ignore it?”

Evnen stated in a press release that his office will comply with the ruling and has already instructed election officials to allow felons to register as voters.

Jonathan Topaz, an attorney with the ACLU said that Evnen’s conduct threatened to rob thousands of people their right to vote.

Topaz stated in a press release that they were “grateful” the Nebraska Supreme Court had invalidated this unlawful attempt to restore permanent felony disenfranchisement.

About half of the states in the U.S. prohibit felons voting, either permanently or for a specified period after they’ve served their sentence. Critics say that the practice unfairly disenfranchises those with criminal records, and is disproportionately harmful to Black and Latino individuals who are more likely than others to be in prison.

Nebraska has only five electoral votes for the presidential election, but it can still play a significant role in this race because, unlike all other states except Maine and Alaska that divide their votes geographically.

The district which includes Omaha, Nebraska’s largest city, may end up being the tiebreaker in an election that is expected to be one of the most closely contested in U.S. History, depending on the performance of the candidates in the battleground state.

Minnesota’s highest court upheld in August a law that was signed by Tim Walz last year, the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate. It is similar to one adopted by Nebraska.

Few weeks ago, a federal court of appeals rejected a challenge against Mississippi’s ban on lifetime voting for those convicted of certain felonies. The court said that the policy did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.