RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge has halted the enforcement of a North Carolina law that made it a serious crime for someone to vote while still on probation or parole for a felony conviction when they had simply violated the voting law by mistake.

The ruling was celebrated by groups representing poor residents and Black union members — and is limited, addressing some allegations of illegal voting conducted before 2024.

That’s because the General Assembly amended the law last fall so that starting Jan. 1 a felony offender has to know they were breaking the law by voting for there for it to be considered a crime. But the old law had not been repealed.

The plaintiffs in a 2020 lawsuit said that people would still be subject to prosecution for votes allegedly cast before 2024 under the old rules, which didn’t require intentionality to violate them. They said local district attorneys could otherwise still prosecute scores of pending cases.