A new voting bloc, released felons, are getting a chance to have their voices heard in this month's primary. Roughly 40,000 people statewide with past felony convictions get voting rights this year after Gov. Larry Hogan's veto was overridden by the General Assembly.

Advertisement Ex-felons prepare to vote thanks to new Maryland law Early voting in state runs through April 21 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A new voting bloc, released felons, are getting a chance to have their voices heard in this month's primary.Download the WBAL app. Roughly 40,000 people statewide with past felony convictions get voting rights this year after Gov. Larry Hogan's veto was overridden by the General Assembly.Some of these people may cast their ballot as soon as early as Thursday as early voting gets underway.Voters' Guide: Where the candidates stand on the issues"(Voting is) like eating an apple pie, man," released felon Thomas Dargan said. "It's an American thing everybody should want to do."Dargan is one of the thousands of ex-felons in Maryland who are now eligible to vote right out of prison."I paid my debt to society, so the only thing I'm looking forward to now is getting back into society," Dargan said.Before, ex-felons couldn't vote until they completed parole or probation in Maryland.The new law and Baltimore's mayoral race prompted Deanna Curtis, out after serving time for attempted murder, to register to vote for the first time."Our opinion, our voice is just as important as everyone else's," Curtis said.Community groups put together a candidate forum Wednesday to educate ex-felons on the race. Those groups have tried to spread the word about the new law to bolster voter rolls."All of us will be working very hard over the next couple of years to register more and advertise it," Baltimore NAACP president Tessa Hill-Aston said.Ex-felon or not, another new law allows people to register during early voting, which starts Thursday and ends on April 21."It's just the quiet before the storm," City Elections Direction Armstead Jones said.Jones is hoping for calm because early voting will also be the start of the state's new paper ballot system."And they bubble in like a standardized test would be," Jones said "And we just encourage them to come out, be patient it is new."For former felons, the change provides them a new opportunity to participate in democracy.For Dargan and Curtis, they both said they would vote for Sheila Dixon for mayor.They said they could relate to Dixon after she resigned from office in 2010 after part of her plea deal after being found guilty of a misdemeanor embezzlement charge relating to her use of gift cards that were intended to be distributed to the poor."So, the same way I expect society to forgive me, I'm asking them to forgive her, too," Dargan said.