Florida moves to remove felons with unpaid debts from voting rolls
Source: CNN
Election officials in Florida are taking steps to remove ex-felons from the voter rolls if they still owe court debts, according to an email sent this week to county elections officials obtained by CNN.
The state's elections director, Maria Matthews, told local elections supervisors on Tuesday that they would begin to receive files on convicted felons "whose potential ineligibility is based on not having satisfied the legal financial obligations of their sentence." The email added that if local officials received information about registered voters who are ineligible from sources other than the Florida Department of State, "you should act on it."
The move comes after more than 1 million Floridians with felony convictions had their voting rights restored through a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018. But Florida's GOP-controlled Legislature later passed a bill saying ex-felons must settle all financial obligations such as fines, fees and restitution before their voting rights are restored.
A federal judge ruled in May that that state law amounted to an unconstitutional "pay-to-vote system," but in September a federal appeals court overturned that decision.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/florida-moves-to-remove-felons-with-unpaid-debts-from-voting-rolls/ar-BB1a6KgI?li=BBnb7Kz
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Under Florida law, some convicted felons may have their voting rights reinstated if they fulfill all requirements — including monetary — of their court-ordered sentencing.
Madison Dapcevich
Published 29 September 2020
Billionaire and former presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg raised more than $16 million to pay the fines and restitution of convicted felons in Florida so that they are able to register to vote ahead of the 2020 general election.
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Billionaire philanthropist and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised more than $16 million to pay the fines, fees, and restitution of roughly 31,000 convicted felons in Florida to restore their voting rights in advance of the 2020 general election.
Bloomberg’s donation added to the $5 million that was raised by the nonpartisan voting rights advocacy group Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), as was first reported by Axios. According to a Sept. 22 news release, FRRC announced that it had raised $20 million of its $25 million goal to pay the fines and fees — not exceeding $1,500 — for formerly incarcerated citizens returning to society so that they are eligible to vote in the 2020 general election. That deadline is two weeks in advance of Florida’s voter registration deadline of Oct. 5.
More: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bloomberg-pay-florida-felons-vote/
But the Florida court system did not know who owed how much so it was impossible to pay the fines and fees. Interesting how they NOW know who to remove for unpaid fees and fines, when it is too late to get those returning citizens re-instated in time to vote.
Amendment 4 from 2018 was supposed to restore the vote to up to 1.4 million felons. Instead, it might be America’s biggest case of voter disenfranchisement.
By Lawrence Mower and Langston Taylor
Published Oct. 7
Updated Oct. 11
TALLAHASSEE — Nearly two years after Florida voters approved a landmark constitutional amendment allowing felons to vote, state officials don’t know how many have registered. They also don’t know how many felons on the voter rolls owe court fees, fines or restitution that would disqualify them from voting under a subsequent state law that limited the amendment’s scope.
Florida officials have not removed any felons from the rolls for owing fines or fees, and they’re unlikely to do so before Election Day, Secretary of State Laurel Lee said in an interview Monday. It’s unclear whether those whom the state fails to prune are entitled to vote after all — or may face prosecution if they do.
With so much in flux, the winner of Florida’s closely watched presidential vote could be decided by the courts for the second time in two decades.
Amid the confusion, the one certainty is that Florida’s Republican governor and Legislature have tamped down the felon vote, according to an analysis of state records by the Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald and ProPublica. In a presidential election marred by voter suppression tactics, such as misinformation about vote-by-mail fraud, the weakening of Florida’s Amendment 4 may constitute the biggest single instance of voter disenfranchisement. Like the poll taxes of the Jim Crow era, the restrictions have especially hit Black Floridians, who comprise a disproportionate share of felons and register overwhelmingly as Democrats.
By comparing the Florida Department of Corrections database of roughly 418,000 inmates released since 1997 with the state’s August list of nearly 15 million registered voters, the analysis found that about 31,400 Floridians with felony convictions have registered to vote since the ballot measure, known as Amendment 4, took effect last January.
More: https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2020/10/07/florida-ruled-felons-must-pay-to-vote-now-it-doesnt-know-how-many-can/
Go to https://floridarrc.com/ to help.
f they still owe court debts. 
