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Florida Felons Who Owe Restitution Or Outstanding Legal Fees Can Still Vote, Judge Rules

May 25, 2020

Florida Felons Who Owe Restitution Or Outstanding Legal Fees Can Still Vote, Judge Rules

'This is a tremendous victory for voting rights,' said an ACLU attorney.

Aaron Homer

'This is a tremendous victory for voting rights,' said an ACLU attorney.

Felons in Florida who are unable to repay their court fines can still have their voting rights restored, a federal judge has ruled.

As The Associated Press reports, in 2018 Florida voters approved Amendment 4, a ballot measure that automatically restores the right to vote to convicted felons who have served their sentences. The measure, which restored voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million ex-felons, excluded convicted rapists and murderers.

However, in 2019 the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a law requiring that “people with felony records [must] pay ‘all fines and fees’ associated with their sentence prior to the restoration of their voting rights.”

Voting-rights advocates called the law an attempt to nullify the Amendment through legislation, and filed suit in response. Specifically, the lawsuit alleged that the law is unfair to felons who are impoverished and unable to pay those fees. Further, the lawsuit alleges that in some cases, the amount of money a felon even owes is difficult to determine.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle agreed with both points. First, he called the requirement that felons pay their fines a “pay to vote” system that is unconstitutional when applied to felons “who are otherwise eligible to vote but are genuinely unable to pay the required amount.”

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He did note, however, that it’s constitutional to require felons who can pay their fines to do so before they’re allowed to vote — but only if the state can determine how much they owe.

On the matter of some felons being unable to even know how much they owe, Hinkle noted that it could take years for election officials to identify how much each felon, otherwise eligible to vote, even owes, and then to notify them.

To that end, Hinkle’s ruling allows for a felon to request an “advisory opinion” from state election officials about how much they owe, forcing election officials to try to get that information from the court system. If the felon doesn’t get an answer within 3 weeks, he or she can’t be barred from voting.

The ruling is unlikely to be the final word in the matter, as DeSantis has vowed to appeal.

Meanwhile, advocates for felons’ voting rights are energized by the ruling.

“This is a tremendous victory for voting rights,” Julie Ebenstein, senior staff attorney with ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement.

The restoration of voting rights to felons, and attempts to thwart it, could have a profound effect on the 2020 presidential election. Of the estimated 1.4 million felons awaiting their right to vote to be restored, many are African American, largely considered a solid and reliable Democrat voting bloc.