State lawmakers on Monday announced legislation that would return voting rights to nearly 100,000 people locked up in prison or serving parole or probation in New Jersey.

If passed, it would make New Jersey the third state in the country to allow people to vote while serving prison sentences.

The charge is being led by members of the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus, who say laws prohibiting inmates from voting disproportionately hurt black New Jerseyans.

"There is no relationship between voting and committing crimes," said state Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex, one of the bill's prime sponsors. "To disenfranchise those who have made mistakes and are paying for them is wrong."

It will likely face opposition from Republican lawmakers, one of whom said Monday that voters "shouldn't trust" inmates to choose elected leaders.

Currently, New Jersey residents with criminal records are allowed to vote, but only after they have completed their sentence and paid back any restitution or court fees. The proposed law would allow inmates to vote absentee in their home district.

Research from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, which supports the new legislation, shows 94,000 people with criminal convictions are currently denied the right to vote -- a population larger than New Jersey's state capital, Trenton.

Advocates at a Statehouse press conference on Monday noted New Jersey has a severe racial disparity in its prison population despite similar offense rates between black and white residents.

Bill co-sponsor state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, said lawmakers introduced the bill on Monday to commemorate the 1869 passage by Congress of the 15th Amendment, which gave black men the right to vote. She noted that New Jersey was one of seven states which initially opposed the amendment before approving it once it became law.

"We're still refusing, 150 years later," Cunningham said. "We haven't grown at all."

It's unclear whether the bill has the support of top Democrats in the state.

A report from Gov. Phil Murphy's transition team endorsed giving voting rights to those on parole and probation but stopped short of saying inmates should vote.

A spokesman for Murphy said Monday the governor supports expanding voter enfranchisement but did not indicate whether he would support the bill.

"Governor Murphy believes that we are a better, stronger, and more representative democracy when more New Jerseyans participate," spokesman Dan Bryan said. "He looks forward to working with the legislature to pass legislation that expands access to the ballot."

State Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Bergen, said in a statement Monday that losing the right to vote is "part of the risk (inmates) assume when they break the law, and part of the incentive structure for people to follow the law.

"Do we really believe that murderers and rapists who are serving prison sentences should be allowed to influence elections and public policy?" Cardinale said.

At his press conference, Rice rejected the notion that taking away the right to vote is an effective crime deterrent.

"There's no one that's going to rob a bank or break in a house that if I said, 'You do that again, I'm going to take away your voting rights,' that's going to be deterred," he said. "There's no one that says, 'I"m going to be a better person if you take away my rights.'"

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.