Florida ruled felons must pay to vote. Now, it doesn't know how many can.

[sl8]

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/

Florida ruled felons must pay to vote. Now, it doesn’t know how many can.

Florida’s Amendment 4 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 Yesterday

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.

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[Thekaspervote]

1. that sick f..k governor ..why does anyone want repukes in charge??!!

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Because they HATE the idea someone might be getting their tax dollars that doesn't deserve it.

That's certainly one reason.

What's the bumper sticker?

"Republicans are people too.
Mean, greedy, selfish people"

[SWBTATTReg]

3. And so how can they enforce this law then, if they can't keep track of who's paid/who's hasn't,

as well as how much, etc.? This unenforceable law should be ruled unconstitutional immediately!

[csziggy]

4. There should be a law that requires the state to notify immediately

How much each returning citizen owes within 30 days of their release. Then every six months to a year, they should be billed for the outstanding amount.

Part of the provision should be that if the returning citizen is not billed within a set amount of time, they can not be held responsible and their rights can not be abridged due to obligations they did not receive notice for.

This should be retroactive so that the state has to bill formerly incarcerated people within a set amount of time - six months or less - and if no notice of obligations is received in that time, the returned citizens cannot be held to owe anything.

Right now, since they do not know who owes what, they have disenfranchised thousands. I believe anyone who was not able to register - or who registered and that they try to take away their rights to vote - should sue the governor and his conspirators for taking away their rights.

When the majority of Florida voters voted for this amendment, they did not intend for the governor to invent a reason to continue the disenfranchisement of people who are just trying to have an interest in our country. I know I did not.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Very good points. The state is seemingly coming up w/ excuses on a daily basis, on not giving...

back these voting rights. They should already have calculated what each convict owns, immediately (and not rip them off w/ unreasonable charges either). The suggestion that total charges per inmate should be calculated and provided to each inmate no later than 30 days after each inmate's release (or sooner) is a very good one. A statute of limitations, otherwise, the state will abuse it. Retroactively applying this is a good idea. The right to sue is also good (remove immunity from lawmakers from this particular issue, so they can be held accountable, not taxpayers).

Have you approached any state authorities w/ these suggestions? A very good list.

[csziggy]

6. I sent it to my state representative who is running for state senator

She is a good, strong Democrat and has been trying to fight this thing. But the Florida legislature is overloaded with Republicans in both House and Senate so it is worse than at the national level.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Good for you. At least you're on record for allowing these people the right to vote again. I think

that if they already have paid their debt to society, why continue to punish them more? I don't understand this logic and why all of a sudden, this has happened. It seems like the republicans sat in a room, and came up with all of the ways they can deny folks the right to vote, etc. It seems ironic to me that if a convict moves to another state, e.g., across the state line to Georgia, then they magically the right to vote (if I'm right here in my thinking)?

Perhaps with the upcoming blowout coming, that some of the scumbags in your state legislature will be removed. Unfortunately I have the same thing in MO, a legislature stuffed full of repugs. And we used to be democratically controlled so thanks to jury rigging the district lines, they got in. We do have efforts to take control of the district relining efforts away from a political party and give it to the voters, so at least we have this effort going on in MO.

Thanks and take care of yourself!

[csziggy]

8. I also donated a big amount to the group collecting funds to pay fees

And fines - the same one that Bloomberg donated to - FRRC. I think that stands for Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, but the people who run the website do not spell it out on their pages.