Virus, fees hinder drive to register Florida felons to vote

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Terry Spencer, Associated Press
Updated 1:36 pm CDT, Sunday, August 16, 2020

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — When Floridians overwhelmingly approved a measure allowing most felons to vote after completing their sentences, many expected Democrats to benefit most from the participation of up to 1.4 million newly eligible voters in this year’s election.

But the coronavirus pandemic, which has hampered registration drives, and a disputed requirement that felons pay a series of costs before their rights are restored have turned the anticipated geyser of new voters in the largest swing state into a trickle.

The state does not track how many felons — or “returning citizens” as many activists call them — have been registered since Amendment 4 passed in 2018, lifting a ban enacted following the Civil War. But Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, the amendment's main backer, puts the number at 100,000.

. . .

Although the tally is far from the originally anticipated surge of new voters, Meade points out that 140,000 would still be more than the 110,000 votes by which President Donald Trump carried Florida in 2016 and, famously, the 537 votes that separated Republican George W. Bush from Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

But, he added, there's also a principle, not just an election, at stake.


Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Virus-fees-hinder-drive-to-register-Florida-15487603.php

[iluvtennis]

1. the fees are just a new instance of a poll tax. when the ppl of Florida passed the measure in 2018

there was no requirement that the ex felons pay any fees. The rethugs added this requirement after the measure passed. And the other horrific thing is when an ex-felon wants to pay, the Florida authorities have no idea of what an ex-felon owes - as no records of court costs, etc were ever kept.

[sl8]

2. Oral arguments for the Eleventh Circuit appeal are tomorrow (Jones v.Desantis) n/t