Florida felons seeking voting rights back face court setback
Source: Associated Press
A federal appellate court has stayed a lower court ruling that gave impoverished Florida felons the right to vote. The order issued Wednesday disappointed voting rights activists and could have national implications in November’s presidential election.
In May, a federal judge in Tallahassee ruled that Florida law can’t stop an estimated 774,000 disenfranchised felons from voting because they can’t pay back any legal fees and restitution they owe. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle called the law a “pay-to-vote system.”
But Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis immediately appealed that ruling to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting a stay of Hinkle’s ruling and a review of the case by the full appeals court. The appellate court, in a three-sentence order Wednesday, granted both requests. The court gave no timeline as to when it would hear the case.
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The stay, if it extends into the fall, could influence the election outcome in November. Florida is considered a must-win state in President Donald’s Trump’s bid for re-election. Florida’s disenfranchised felons represent a significant bloc in a state well known for razor-thin election margins. Many of those felons are black and presumably Democrats.
Read more: https://apnews.com/439b2c154bb9929a8eda685acde451b4
Deeply disappointing at this stage of the game, but the growing disaffection for trump may end up making this particular court win unnecessary. Here’s to that
= new reply since forum marked as read
K&R for exposure
Any billionaire who wants to save our democracy would do.
Wonder if it’d be possible to crowdsource it?!
