AN ACT to require a knowing violation of the law to declare it a felony when a person convicted of a crime votes in an election without having been restored the rights of citizenship.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 163‑275(5) reads as rewritten:

(5)      For any person convicted of a crime which excludes the person from the right of suffrage, to knowingly vote at any primary or election without having been restored to the right of citizenship in due course and by the method provided by law.

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to violations occurring on or after that date.