Florida can’t bar felons from registering to vote over fees and fines, court rules
Florida cannot bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge’s preliminary injunction that the implementation of Amendment 4 – approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 to allow most felons who served their time to regain the right to vote – amounted to an unfair poll tax that would disenfranchise many of them.
A spokeswoman for Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said the state will immediately ask the entire 11th Circuit to reconsider the ruling. In addition, a full trial on the issue is set to begin this spring.
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Well, PoS Governor DeSantis has just convinced the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a stay on Judge Hinkel’s ruling allowing ex-felons to vote while they review the ruling. If the stay is not removed by Oct 5th, ex-felons will not be allowed to register to vote in the November general election.
This is a letter that went to the editor of the Orlando Sentinel this morning:
First of all let it be known that I have been a Republican all my life and cannot find it in my conscience to support the Democrat liberal policies, but I am becoming disgusted with Governor DeSantis’ efforts to keep tax paying citizens from voting. These ex-felons have experienced some failure in their lives…as have all of us…and paid the physical portion of the consequences. All would love to be able to pay their monetary restitution but in a world that expects them to support themselves and their families and pay taxes, that is just not always possible or even feasible, especially with a system that makes rejoining society as a responsible citizen almost impossible. Studies have shown that reintegration into society is a key element in eliminating recidivism. Florida’s governor, who is supposed to represent all citizens, seems to be representing only selected citizens and willing to protect his political cronies by depriving some citizens from the opportunity to participate in a democratic…with a small ‘d’…form of government. Until we are able to remove politics from government and the judiciary we will have to learn to live in an unjust society, and one day the “pressure cooker” will boil over and this nation will not be recognizable. It happened once…in 1861…and could happen again if our politicians don’t start doing what is best for the people and not what is best for the ‘party’.