ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party will now allow people in the U.S. illegally and those serving felony probation to participate in its caucuses, serve as delegates and hold leadership positions in the party.

DFL leadership announced the expansion of participation at a Wednesday, Jan. 26, news conference, with the party's central committee voting unanimously to make the change the night before.

Extending participation in the party to people typically excluded from the political process is the culmination of a six-year effort according to DFL Chairman Ken Martin, who said he first started pushing for the change in 2016.

Minnesota law prohibits felons serving probation and people in the country illegally from voting, something that until recently applied to party caucuses where members can introduce proposals for the state party platform and elect local leadership. Democrats voted at their state convention in 2018 to grant full party participation to noncitizens, people in the U.S. illegally, and felons who had not yet had their voting rights restored but later learned that state law stood in the way.

The DFL couldn't get Republican support to change the state statute and pursued the legal route to change the rules, Martin said. In 2020, the DFL and activist Noah McCourt, who was serving five years of probation for a felony sentence, sued the state of Minnesota to challenge its ban on felons from participating in precinct caucuses, arguing the law violated the First Amendment. District courts dismissed both actions, and while the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court decisions in early January, it also ruled the state's law banning felons on probation from voting did not apply to caucuses.

The appeals court decision opened the door for the DFL to expand participation at its precinct caucuses. Ineligible voters will be able to participate for the first time at the 2022 caucuses next week.