Florida voting rights group faced threats from white supremacists after Republicans' call for

[TexasTowelie]

Florida voting rights group faced threats from white supremacists after Republicans' call for investigation


TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans' request last month for police and the FBI to investigate a program to pay off felons' court fees and fines hasn’t amounted to criminal charges or a formal probe.

But it has created a “chilling effect” and sparked threats from white supremacists, according to Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which has raised tens of millions of dollars to pay off court fees and fines for felons over the last 18 months.

Meade said Friday he’s had to hire lawyers and security experts to combat threats from people who now believe he and his organization are working to undermine President Donald Trump’s re-election.

“White supremacist groups were encouraging people to go to our website and do nefarious things and trying to sabotage the site,” Meade said.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2020/10/23/florida-voting-rights-group-faced-threats-from-white-supremacists-after-republicans-call-for-investigation/

[iemitsu]

1. Don't they realize that it could be them

that gets their fines paid? Florida prisons don't just serve black people and liberals.

[mr_lebowski]

2. This would've been a great use of Bloomberg's billion$ ... been saying that

since the day he officially lost the nomination.

[csziggy]

3. Bloomberg paid fines for about 31,000 returning citizens

Did Bloomberg Pay Fines for 31,000 Florida Felons So They Can Vote?
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.

Rating True


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/

[mr_lebowski]

4. Yeah I thought I heard something about that a month or so back ...

Not sure whether he kicked in his own money or not (Snopes says he 'raised' the $16M).

It's great that he did that but I think there's a lot more that 30K or so people being denied their vote for owing fines and such, which is apparently all that got covered.

[csziggy]

5. From articles I read the 31,000 were the ones who registered before the deadline

And who were being threatened with removal because of fines.

But the entire situation is chaotic. It turns out, Florida has no organized method of keeping track of released prisoner's fines and fees. So a felon (or preferred language, returning citizen) is not notified that they might owe anything until the state feels like denying their voting rights. Apparently a number of people who had registered later - too late to fix the problem - were notified that they owed money.

I know that FRRC (Florida Rights Restoration Coalition) collected a lot more donations than Bloomberg gave. My sister and I both donated well after all the Bloomberg publicity.

FRRC - https://floridarrc.com/ has great information on their website.