Opening the door for hundreds of thousands of convicted felons to be added to Florida's voting rolls, a federal judge struck down major parts of a state law requiring felons to pay court-ordered "legal financial obligations" to be eligible to vote.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle's highly anticipated ruling also laid out a procedure for state elections officials to determine whether felons seeking to vote have outstanding legal financial obligations and are unable to pay court-ordered debts.

Hinkle's decision came less than a month after an eight-day trial in the lawsuit, filed by voting- and civil-rights groups who alleged that linking voting rights and finances amounts to an unconstitutional "poll tax."