大象传媒

This story was originally published by and is reprinted here under a Creative Commons license. This story is part of聽, a special series from PJP about voting, politics, and democracy behind bars.聽

I was incarcerated for more than eight years in Florida. I鈥檝e been free for 18 months and just recently got the bug to vote again. Problem was, I didn鈥檛 know if I was eligible to register. I wasn鈥檛 debriefed on the matter when I left prison, and I鈥檇 heard different things from different people. Some said: 鈥淔elons can鈥檛 vote in Florida. Ever.鈥� While others claimed: 鈥淵ou can vote as long as you鈥檙e done with your sentence.鈥澛犅犅犅犅犅�

I needed guidance. And clearly I wasn鈥檛 the only one.  

A new proposal by the Florida Division of Elections seeks to end confusion around restoration of voting rights. If passed, the update to its existing advisory opinion process would provide people with felony convictions the chance to request a formal opinion stating definitively whether their voting rights have been restored. In so doing, it will clarify a complicated state statute that governs the process of reinstating voting rights for formerly incarcerated people. 

鈥淲e wanted to figure out a simple question: Whose job is it to determine voter eligibility?鈥� Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, told Spectrum News 13 in August in support of the proposal. 

Confusion Over the Law

The state statute in question, SS 98.0751, dictates that for all crimes other than murder or sex offenses, restoration of voting rights is contingent upon sentence completion, including parole or probation and the satisfaction of all court-ordered fines and fees. People convicted of murder or sex offenses must seek additional permission in the form of clemency from a state-appointed board.

But this alone doesn鈥檛 definitively answer the question of eligibility. Many people are not even aware of all the fines they owe post-incarceration, let alone the offense-specific guidelines laid out in the statute.   

Meade said the proposed process, including a special form, would affirmatively address these issues. He added, 鈥淭he other thing, which I think is huge, is that it provides protection for people against鈥� being arrested for voter fraud. 

Forty-one formerly incarcerated people were arrested in 2022 and 2023 for voter fraud in Florida, according to Southern Poverty Law Center. At least some of them had attempted to vote based on honest misunderstandings of the state statute鈥攜et their prosecutions proceeded. 

In response, some critics charged that Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Republicans were deliberately suppressing the voting rights of felons. 

鈥淚nstead of fulfilling its role to enable Floridians to vote, the state has made it more difficult, which is anti-democratic,鈥� said Courtney O鈥橠onnell, a senior staff attorney for voting rights with the Southern Poverty Law Center, in an article posted on the group鈥檚 site.

Florida does indeed make it hard for felons to vote. A 2023 fact sheet by The Sentencing Project states that Florida disenfranchises nearly 1.5 million people with felony convictions, more than any other state in the nation.

A History of Controversy

The latest saga in the battle over felony disenfranchisement in Florida began heating up in 2018. 

That鈥檚 the year voters in the state approved Amendment 4, which automatically restored voting rights to anyone with felony convictions鈥攎inus those convicted of murder or sex offenses鈥攗pon release from prison. DeSantis opposed the measure. Not even a year later, thanks to legislative support by his fellow Republicans, DeSantis signed SS 98.0751 into law.   

Legal battles ensued. Opponents of the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said it effectively instituted a 鈥減oll tax,鈥� whereby only those who could pay could vote, echoing similar attempts from the Jim Crow era. 

DeSantis said the measure was a safeguard against giving 鈥渧iolent felons鈥� certain societal benefits 鈥渨ithout regard to the wishes of the victims.鈥�  

Ultimately, the fight reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2020 decided against intervening in a lower-court ruling that upheld the new law. In a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the law 鈥減revents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida鈥檚 primary election simply because they are poor.鈥�

Moving Forward

SS 98.0751 is the law of the land for the foreseeable future. In my case, once I did my homework, the registration process ultimately went smoothly. However, I credit this to my relative privilege in being resourceful enough to conduct such research and pay my fines, coupled with my not being convicted of murder or a sex crime.  Sadly, many others aren鈥檛 so lucky.   

The special opinion process proposed by the Florida Department of Elections is not expected to go into effect before the Oct. 7 deadline to register to vote in the fall election, according to CBS News Miami. 

For more information on voting in Florida, visit the website of the supervisor of elections in your county or. You can also review this聽聽from the ACLU of Florida.