Someone who is disenfranchised does not have rights that other people have, especially the right to vote. The word also carries a social feeling: they do not feel part of the group or of society. News writers talk about “disenfranchised communities” and “the disenfranchised” — using the adjective as if it were a group of people.

Though actually, a lawyer and a journalist do not always mean the same thing. A lawyer wants a rule that took the vote away. A journalist may call a neighbourhood disenfranchised because people there feel ignored, even if they can still mark a ballot. The second use is looser and more emotional, but it is how many English speakers talk now. It is a serious, adult word; you would not use it for a child left out of a game.