After Florida voters last year approved a constitutional amendment restoring formerly incarcerated felons’ voting rights, Republicans in both chambers have passed a provision requiring they pay any outstanding court fees and fines before they can vote.
The amendment, which excludes those convicted of murder and felony sexual assault, would give up to 1.5 million people with felony convictions the ability to vote.
The bill approved by the Florida statehouse gives felons who owe three options: pay in full; obtain a court’s dismissal of the financial obligation, if the person who is owed agrees; or convert the obligation to community service and complete those hours.
“Basically, they’re telling you, ‘If you have money, you can vote. If you don’t have money, you can’t,’” Patrick Penn, 42, who spent 15 years in prison for strong-arm robbery and a violent burglary, told the New York Times. Penn said he does not know if he owes money, but he said “that’s not what the people voted for.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, among other groups, has voiced its opposition to the added measure.
For decades, state lawmakers had the chance to be on the right side of history and restore the right to vote to returning citizens but failed to do so.
Now, they are undermining the will of 5.1 million Florida voters who passed #Amendment4. #Flapol pic.twitter.com/Q5zi7aG7TX
— ACLU of Florida (@ACLUFL) May 3, 2019
This is a great big slap in the face to the voters and a way to discourage people from participating in the process. There’s a stark disconnect between the joy and jubilation in November compared to folks now trying to do things in Tallahassee when no one is paying attention. https://t.co/4QmBA8DtFL
— ACLU of Florida (@ACLUFL) May 3, 2019
The debate over felon voting rights has become an issue in the 2020 Democratic primary. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently voiced his support of giving incarcerated felons, even those convicted of terrorism and sexual assault, the right to vote.
“If you commit a terrible crime, you’re going to pay the price,” Sanders said at a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, last month. “But that does not mean that your right to participate in our democracy is taken away from you.”
“Once you begin taking away somebody’s right to vote, you’re moving down a slippery slope. ‘You committed a crime, you can’t vote. You’re poor, you can’t vote,'” Sanders added.
