Published March 30, 2021 at 10:38 AM EDT Listen • 30:02
This episode originally aired on March 2, 2021.
In 2018 almost 65% of Florida voters cast ballots in support of Amendment 4 to the state constitution, the ballot initiative to restore voting rights to citizens who’d been convicted of certain felonies after they had completed their sentences. Its successful passage restored voting rights to more than 1.4 million Floridians at least that’s what its authors intended.
Despite strong bipartisan support, as soon as Amendment 4 passed the Republican legislature limited its scope to only include people who owed no money to the state. After a series of court challenges, on September 11, 2020 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the requirement for felons to pay fines did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and so former felons couldn’t vote until they paid all
Published March 2, 2021 at 12:41 PM EST Listen • 30:02
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
In 2018 almost 65% of Florida voters cast ballots in support of Amendment 4 to the state constitution, the ballot initiative to restore voting rights to citizens who’d been convicted of certain felonies after they had completed their sentences. Its successful passage restored voting rights to more than 1.4 million Floridians at least that’s what its authors intended.
Despite strong bipartisan support, as soon as Amendment 4 passed the Republican legislature limited its scope to only include people who owed no money to the state. After a series of court challenges, on September 11, 2020 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the requirement for felons to pay fines did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and so former felons couldn’t vote until they paid all fees and fin