Florida Gov Signs Law Requiring Felons To Pay Off Fines Before They Can Vote

[appalachiablue]

Source: The Hill

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill Friday to require felons to pay off restitution, court fees and fines before regaining the right to vote. The bill, put forth by state Republicans, comes after Floridians voted in November to pass an amendment restoring voter registration rights to about 1.4 million ex-convicts in the state.

Former offenders who have completed "all terms of their sentence including parole or probation" had their voting rights automatically restored in January. The legislation does not apply to Floridians convicted of murder or sexual offenses, however. But critics have argued the bill signed by DeSantis on Friday seeks to intentionally undermine the amendment, with many Democrats calling it a modern-day "poll tax" that will keep felons disenfranchised.

Advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union had already suggested they would sue if DeSantis signed the bill. While the bill signed Friday offers the opportunity for fines to be dismissed on a case-by-case basis, groups argue many felons will be unable to pay off their debt and lose their right to vote.

Prior to the amendment's passage in November, Florida was one of only three states, along with Kentucky and Iowa, that permanently barred ex-convicts from registering to vote without first going through a lengthy clemency process. -END.


Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/450975-florida-gov-signs-law-requiring-felons-to-pay-off-fines-before-they-can

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Embracing Jim Crow- Era Rules, Fla GOP Enacts Poll Tax That Could Ban Up To 1 Mill From Voting, Daily Kos, 6/28/19.

..To thwart the will of Florida voters, Republicans are imposing a measure straight out of the Jim Crow playbook: poll taxes. This new law would require the payment of all court-ordered restitution as well as any court-related fines or fees before voters can regain their rights. Florida's felony disenfranchisement system itself is a remnant of Jim Crow: It was given its modern form shortly after the Civil War as part of a series of changes intended to disempower black citizens in a state that was nearly one-half black at the time. Before 2018's ballot initiative passed, the Sentencing Project estimated that one in 10 Floridians were disenfranchised, including one in 5 black voters--5 times the rate of those who aren't black...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/28/1855828/-Embracing-Jim-Crow-era-rules-Florida-GOP-enacts-poll-tax-that-could-ban-up-to-1-million-from-voting



Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis (R)

[hlthe2b]

1. SUE, ACLU, SUE!

[Captain Stern]

18. I don't see why the ACLU would sue now.

It was always the ACLU's understanding that no felon's voting rights would be restored before all fees, fines, and restitution were paid.

Here's a link to a memo written by the Executive Director of the ACLU in Florida before the referendum:

[link:https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5775917-Florida-Simon-Mauer-Memo.html|

In that memo, the ACLU's Executive Director concludes that the impact of the scale of the proposed amendment should be described as follows:

"Under Amendment 4, as many as 1.4 million Foridians who have completed supervision of a felony sentence have earned a 2cnd chance to fully participate in their community and could be eligible for the restoration of their ability to vote upon payment of fines, fees, and restitution."

In the memo, he straight up says they DON'T want the people that are voting on the amendment to think that the people that haven't paid their fees, fines, or restitution are going to get to vote.

[hlthe2b]

19. THEY already HAVE initiated a lawsuit along with NAACP and Brennan Center for Justice at NYU

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1002&thread=12228278

I always start these posts with a pitch for DUers to log on and make a quick, however small, donation to ACLU (in addition to your chosen DEM candidates, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club or other important causes). ACLU has just won a landmark case against Trump's illegal $$ grab to build the Wall, have won against these horrific anti-woman anti-choice laws, the Muslim travel bans, and of course are working hard to protect rights for immigrants along the border. Give 'em your $ if you can and a few minutes of your time when they send their periodic surveys. End pitch

Link to tweet

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law filed a federal lawsuit today challenging a new state law that creates wealth-based hurdles to voting and undermines Floridians’ overwhelming support for Amendment 4.

[hlthe2b]

20. As previously posted ACLU announced a lawsuit Friday, but I think you are misconstruing

the Fl ACLU Director's statement of impact as somehow not arguing against it even if you read it as being agnostic. That is clearly not the case.

[Captain Stern]

21. The whole purpose of the memo was to tell the voters who would be impacted by the amendment

That's actually what the entire memo is written about:

RE: The number of people that could be directly impacted by Amendment 4

In the memo he makes it perfectly clear that his intent is that people that have not paid fees, fines, or restitution would NOT have their voting rights automatically restored. It's in the summary, and it's in the conclusion.

For them to use this as a selling point in trying to get the amendment passed, and then suing because the thing they advocated for actually happened seems disingenuous.

It makes it look like they were lying to the voters in order to get the amendment passed.

[hlthe2b]

22. Are you really justifying this blatant unconstitutional poll tax? ACLU FL is likewise part of suit

so they clearly are not in keeping with your interepretation.

[Captain Stern]

23. I'm not interpreting anything. I'm reading a perfectly clear memo.

I linked to it. There is no room for interpretation.

Regardless of how the ACLU claims they feel now, the memo that their director wrote prior to the vote on the amendment about how they should describe the amendment is crystal clear.

They didn't want the voters to think that convicted felons that hadn't paid their fees, fines, or restitution would automatically have their voting rights restored.

I don't think it qualifies as a poll tax. Poll taxes are charged to everyone. This requirement to pay fees, fines, and restitution only applies to convicted felons.

It's sort of silly to think that it's constitutional to ban all convicted felons from ever voting again, but that it's not ok to keep them from voting because they haven't paid their fees, fines, or restitution.

Personally, I don't have a problem with allowing all citizens to vote, regardless of whether or not they are felons. That includes the folks that are currently incarcerated.

[theophilus]

2. Now is the time for a Bloomberg or other rich liberal to swoop in and pay all the debts. n/t

[Hestia]

10. Same rules apply to Ark for quite sometime now - it is egregious to have to pay for parole

and Benton charges for incarceration in their jail & for all costs of an ankle monitor, which is something like $125 per day for the privilege of being tethered to your home. How in the world could you ever pay that off?

https://static.ark.org/eeuploads/pulaski/Felon_Restoration_of_Voting_Rights_Brochure.pdf

https://lawyerscommittee.org/too-poor-to-pay-how-arkansass-offender-funded-justice-system-drives-poverty-mass-incarceration/

Paying for Your Time: How Charging Inmates Fees Behind Bars May Violate the Excessive Fines Clause
https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/paying-your-time-how-charging-inmates-fees-behind-bars-may-violate-excessive-fines-clause

[appalachiablue]

11. Thanks for posting this impt info.

[sir pball]

30. Somebody in FL should set up a crowdfunded program to help out.

I'd throw in fifty bucks. It would be a more immediate and guaranteed way of working around this bill, court battles take time and given the current makeup of the judiciary it's far from a solid case.

[Skittles]

3. this is bullshit

pure voter suppression

[Capt. America]

4. poll tax

[cstanleytech]

5. In other words a poll tax. nt

[progree]

6. And some people think it should be up to state and localities on how to treat "those people"

Y'all know that by "those people" I'm not just talking about felons.

[YOHABLO]

7. Just another attempt at disenfranchisement of minority voters. ACLU better get moving.

[BlueWI]

17. And the rest of us too.

The Florida losses in 2018 were consequential, and that's on all of us.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. They could pass a law making it illegal for Democrats

to vote on Tuesdays.

The Governor would sign it and the U.S. Supreme Court would call it Temporal Gerrymandering, a marriage of calendar and politics best left to state legislatures. The only hurdle in Florida would be the State Supreme Court.

But there are some states where it would pass muster. Wisconsin, for example.

[Scarsdale]

9. What's next?

People who go to prison lose their citizenship? If they change that to "anyone who commits a crime" half the gop would be unable to vote!! This is wrong, in every way. Voting is the right of every citizen.

[RT Atlanta]

12. Anything they can do to slow and prevent the will of the people

This republican white males must've really had an enjoyable mastubatory celebration at what they no doubt believe is a 'clever' way to stick it to them colored folks by imposing a poll tax.

I am hopeful this law will soon be challenged in court - but honestly it's a roll of the dice how the federal judiciary will decide matters now.

Were I only a wealthy 'limousine liberal' I would start paying off the debts myself should the law stand.

[Vinca]

13. That'll go to court. No poll taxes allowed.

[Demovictory9]

14. anything to suppress the vote

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

15. This reminds me of "Bedazzled."

The main character (Dudley Moore) sells his soul to the Devil (Peter Cook) to get seven wishes to win the girl of his dreams. Each time he makes a wish, the Devil finds a loophole to thwart his goal.

In this case, the majority of voters in Florida amended the state's constitution to align with the principle of, "He (or she) has paid their debt to society, and thus is entitled to have their rights as a citizen reinstated." A simple idea, grounded in fair play and mercy.

Like the Devil, the Repugs -- who abide by neither fair play nor mercy -- have come up with another way to punish people and prevent them from voting. The fact that the vast majority of people who are affected are people of color, and that they are most likely to vote for Democrats, well, the Repugs just didn't consider that, did they?

I told a conservative friend once that his party was just plain mean. That was 40 years ago and I haven't seen any evidence which supports a change in that point of view.

[EleanorR]

16. Looks like a lawsuit has been filed

Link to tweet

[Cartaphelius]

24. What about politician?

Shouldn't they have the same obligation?

[recovering_democrat]

25. Not what we voted for.

I am a Florida resident and this is just so wrong in so many ways.

Like Presidential actions, the Republicans elected just change what they want to change regardless of the voters with a legislative action never argued during the election where voters would not have allowed this.

[beachbum bob]

26. hard to see any court upholding this

having debt is not a disqualifier for voting rights

[KY_EnviroGuy]

27. If this were to be legal, it would seem all citizens would need to be square with government...

regarding taxes, fines and fees prior to voting. Now that would cause a riot in Florida.....

KY.......

[Pachamama]

28. Hope there will be a legal suit challenging it in the courts as a poll tax ASAP

[katmondoo]

29. Just another mean ass Republican ( are there any other kinds)