Now that Donald Trump is—very much officially—a convicted criminal, he could lose the right to vote for himself in the November general election.
Trump famously fled his hometown of New York, where he was just found guilty on 34 felony counts, for his seaside lair of Mar-a-Lago in Florida some years back. But while the Sunshine State might have tax laws that Trump finds more favorable, it’s notoriously strict when it comes to allowing those convicted of felonies to vote.
Trump, of course, was just convicted by a jury in a different state. But under Florida law, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that if Trump’s conviction would have rendered him ineligible to vote in New York, then he can’t vote in Florida. Period.
And what New York law says is that if you are convicted of a felony (check), then you cannot vote if you are incarcerated—which is TBD. We won’t have to wait too long to find out, though: Judge Juan Merchan already set a sentencing date of July 11—just four days before the start of the Republican National Convention, by the by—which gives him plenty of time to act before the election.
But would Merchan actually put Trump behind bars? As a first-time, non-violent offender, it’s possible the defendant will get off without prison time. But each of the 34 charges he was just convicted of carries a maximum four-year sentence, so jail cannot be ruled out.
Of course, there’s an entire appeals process that will play out. And there’s an important caveat: New York restores voting rights upon the completion of any term of incarceration, including for those on parole or probation. So for Trump to miss out on casting a ballot for his own campaign, he’d likely have to actually be in prison on Election Day.
And should that come to pass, his lack of access to the ballot box will be the least of his concerns.
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