Florida’s one of only four states that automatically strip people who’ve been convicted of felonies of their voting rights. Right now 1.4 million Floridians are being deprived of their right to vote on that basis alone. Their only recourse is securing an individual grant of clemency. The fight to end this policy has dragged on for years.
Although then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist “streamlined” the clemency process for nonviolent felonies back in 2007 or so, current Republican Gov. Rick Scott, now running for Senate against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, ended that policy. Worse, he invented even more stringent rules: Floridians have to wait at least five years after release or the end of parole or probation, whichever comes latest, to apply for re-enfranchisement.
But Floridians will have their chance to force major change this November.
The Florida Rights Restoration Commission gathered more than 1 million signatures to get a constitutional amendment repealing the permanent disenfranchisement policy on this year’s ballot—Amendment 4. Come November, they’ll need at least 60 percent of voters to vote for rights restoration. So far, it looks like FRRC has more than enough support. If their ballot measure passes, felonies will no longer be grounds for barring individuals from voting, with the exceptions of felony sexual assault and murder.
The other three states that permanently deprive residents of voting rights based on felony convictions are Kentucky, Iowa, and Virginia. There’s been a push for change in those states, too. During his term in office, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe attempted to bypass the law with an executive order restoring voting rights to people who’d committed felonies but completed parole—some 200,000 Virginians. After Republicans went to the state supreme court to block the EO, McAuliffe took to granting pardons with an auto-pen. He’d signed more than 170,000 grants by the beginning of his last week in office.
An additional 30 states impose other restrictions on voting based on past convictions. By contrast, incarcerated people can still cast ballots in some states and counties; in others, their right to vote is restored upon release. Florida’s currently on the wrong side of history and in ignominious company, but all signs point to cause for hope come November.