Nearly 5 million citizens--a
hugely disproportionate share of them racial minorities--will not be
allowed to vote in next month's presidential election. Laws in 48
states automatically stripped them of that right when they were
convicted of a felony. Now, in a number of high-stakes lawsuits across
the country, minorities are struggling to end the state felon
disenfranchisement laws they say are slicing down the black and Latino
vote. But first the courts will have to agree that this is a civil
rights crisis worthy of federal attention, not just a jailhouse
gripe.With federal courts around the country differing on whether to
hear out the disenfranchised, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to
announce in the coming weeks if it will take up the question this term
and make the final call. At stake: not only millions of potential
votes, but also longstanding questions about racial bias in criminal
law enforcement and about the fullness of the nation's commitment to
minority political participation. The battle over felon
disenfranchisement is shaping up to be the greatest contest over race
and democracy since the end of the Jim Crow era. [more 
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- Colo. voting rolls include 6,000 ineligible felons [more ]