Florida votes to restore ex-felon voting rights with Amendment 4 The victory means more than 1 million people will regain the right to vote. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...orida-amendment-4-felon-voting-rights-results Florida voters during Tuesday’s midterm elections approved Amendment 4, automatically restoring voting rights in the state for people previously convicted of felonies. Florida’s Amendment 4 restores voting rights for people in the state convicted of felonies as long as they have completed their sentences, although anyone convicted of murder or felony sex offenses would be excluded. Based on the Sentencing Project’s 2016 estimates, this benefits more than a million people. The organization estimated in 2016 that nearly 1.5 million people in Florida have completed felony sentences but can’t vote — about 9.2 percent of the voting-age population in Florida. The total, though, includes some people convicted of murder and felony sex offenses, so not every one of those people benefits under Amendment 4. 4 winners and 2 losers from the 2018 midterm elections[/paste:font] Black people, who are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated, will benefit the most. In 2016, more than 418,000 black people out of a black voting-age population of more than 2.3 million, or 17.9 percent of potential black voters in Florida, had finished sentences but couldn’t vote due to a felony record, according to the Sentencing Project. (Again, this includes some people convicted of murders and felony sex offenses.) The amendment was officially supported by Floridians for a Fair Democracy, which gathered more than 1.1 million petitions to put it on the ballot. It received bipartisan endorsements from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Koch brothers–backed Freedom Partners. Most states have at least some voting restrictions for people convicted of felonies. Most often, the law bars people who are currently in prison from voting. Some prohibit voting until a person finishes parole or probation, too. Florida, however, barred people from voting even after they’ve completed their sentences. Only two other states — Kentucky and Iowa — currently do this. Virginia technically does under its Constitution, but former Gov. Terry McAuliffe and current Gov. Ralph Northam, both Democrats, have used their executive powers to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies. Only Maine and Vermont let people vote regardless of their criminal record, which means that people in the two states can even vote from prison. Courts, including the US Supreme Court, have generally upheld such voting restrictions under the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which indicates that the government may abridge the right to vote due to “participation in rebellion, or other crime.” In Florida, there was a process in place for getting voting rights restored. But the process, set up by Gov. Rick Scott (R), was very arduous. It required people to wait as long as seven years to apply, and the application review itself could take several additional years. Even after someone applied, restoration of voting rights was far from guaranteed: According to the Florida Commission on Offender Review, only 3,005 of more than 30,000 applicants had their voting rights restored through the system since Scott implemented it. As a result, Florida had disenfranchised more potential voters than any other state, with more than 10 percent of all potential voters and more than 21 percent of potential black voters in Florida unable to vote due to felony records. With Amendment 4’s win on Tuesday, that will now change — and more than 1 million people will get back the right to vote.
This could cause some big changes in Florida.Hillary won VA by + 5.Northem won the VA governors race by + 9 last year and Tim Kiane won the senate race last night by + 15.
People were surprised Republicans supported restoring voting rights to felons. I did not find this surprising at all, seeing how they elect them and all.
I certainly am surprised.With all the republicans that retire there I was losing hope for Florida for democrats but this considerably changes things imo.
Felons aren't the smartest of folk. Just show them the "alpha" chauvinist who's anti-"fags" and you'll have a reliable vote.
well, good luck with that. I've learned people vote against their own interests in overwhelming numbers as long as you give them someone to hate.